Ingredients:

3 to 4 cups white flour

2 cups powdered sugar (Emily subs 1 cup honey)

4 eggs

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

4 drops of anise oil (Emily uses 1 teaspoon anise extract)

4 teaspoons anise seed (ground, or crushed)

Directions:

Beat eggs until well blended in mixer.  Add sugar gradually, beating between additions, then mix for 10 minutes.  Mix in anise oil and seed. Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder; and then slowly fold flour into the mixing bowl. Use as much flour as needed to make a soft, kneadable dough.

Pour out dough onto a floured surface and knead well, adding more flour if needed to reduce stickiness of dough. Roll out dough to about 1/2  inch thick using a regular rolling pin. Sprinkle flour (or powdered sugar) onto the Springerle rolling pin; or onto the dough itself; to prevent sticking. Firmly press Springerle pin downward on to the dough as you slowly roll the pin across the dough. The designs should be sharp and clear in appearance. Cut out the cookies and rub underside of cookies very lightly with cool water (an Aunt Bess secret). Then place them on a buttered cookie sheet pan. Set cookies in a cool dry place overnight,  between 12 to 24 hours, depending on size of cookies. The purpose of this step is to dry-harden the top surface of the springerle cookies; which in turn helps to preserve the sharpness of the “picture designs” while baking. (Emily first places the cut cookies on wax paper during this overnight step.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place cookies in oven, and immediately reduce heat to 275 degrees. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until just lightly browned on bottom side of cookies.

Store cooled cookies in air tight containers, or ziplock bags. This helps to keep them soft, and increases the anise flavor of the cookies.  Enjoy!

This was my first try at making Springerle cookies, Fortunately, I had a great coach!  Merry Christmas to all!