Karen Boyd Rohde has been at the helm of Bredenbeck’s Bakery for over 30 years now, but her expertise in baking extends back to her childhood, when she had plenty of hands-on experience in her grandfather’s German bakery. To this day, Karen still makes two of her favorite cookies, Springerle cookies and cinnamon stars, in her Chestnut Hill establishment. Springerle cookies require plenty of patience on the baker’s part. Initially, they take two days to make and the flavor doesn’t fully come into play for two weeks. The anise flavor in combination with the crunchy outside and chewy inside makes them worth the wait. Read below for her famous recipe.
Springerle Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 4-1/4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 Tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon anise extract
- Anise seed
Directions
- Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs at high speed until thick and lemon-yellow in color.
- Slowly add the sugar while continuing to beat.
- Add the flour, lemon zest, baking powder and anise extract. Beat to combine.
- Flour a flat surface to use for rolling your dough.
- Use a standard rolling pin to roll out the dough to about 1” thickness.
- If you have access to a Springerle rolling pin, lightly flour it and roll it firmly across the dough to make patterns. Try to keep the dough at about an inch in thickness.
- Cut cookies apart between the patterns. (If making them plain, cut them into 1” squares.)
- Place cookies on ungreased cookie sheets, leaving 1/2″ between cookies. Allow them to dry uncovered overnight (12 hours).
- Preheat oven to 250–300 degrees Fahrenheit. Place cookies on greased cookie sheets, leaving 1/2″ between cookies.
- Bake cookies for 25–30 minutes, until they are firm but still white.
- Place baked cookies on wire cooling racks. Once cooled completely, store cookies in a tightly sealed container with the anise seed. The flavor takes about 2 weeks to fully develop.
You’ll also catch Bredenbeck’s Bakery named as one of the top 75 bakeries in the country. You can surely understand that a title like that is not easy to come by. And because bakeries that specialize in classic German desserts like Springerle Cookies have become harder to find, Bredenbeck’s ships nationwide. Treat your loved ones to the gift of Bredenbeck’s all year long.
Bredenbeck’s Bakery is located at 8126 Germantown Ave. in Philadelphia; phone: (215) 247-7374.
Feature photo credit: Bredenbeck’s Bakery Facebook; cookie photo credit: Food Rulez.
