Lorna, I am in southern California celebrating the birth of my second grandson. What an exciting, busy and wonderful event! Things are a little more settled down here than they were a few days ago. So to your question regarding “mushroom springerle.”I do believe that what your husband refers to is what I have always called a “footed springerle”. This springerle is raised on a “foot” or a squatty stem with a larger base. This shape can be created by extra steam on the bottom surface on the cookie. To achieve this, you should let your cookies dry for 24 hours as usual, but before baking them, brush a small amount of water on the bottom of the dried cookie. This will cause a burst of steam on the bottom of the cookie, creating a foot which, yes, will make your cookie look like a mushroom. This will work best on a average size cookie, say a one and a half to two inch cookie. If you try it on a very small cookie, it will just explode the cookie; on a very large cookie, the weight of the cookie will keep this effect from happening. You will also have to bake the cookies at about 325 degrees, even if you normally bake them at a lower temperature, to get that burst of steam necessary for the “mushroom effect.” You may have to practice this a bit and make adjustments for your oven. This effect is probably more easily achieved in ovens that have higher temperatures in the lower part of the oven, or direct heat from the bottom, something more likely in older baking chambers. My family’s cookies did not have this shape, but I have talked with many people over the years who wanted this effect! Again, springerle cookies are so much a family tradition and it somehow becomes important to follow in the same footsteps.
Or maybe you just want to try this for the fun and experimentation….but it is a little tricky!
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when I first read this I thought you were talking about the flavor of the cookie I had never heard of mushroom cookie. In our Tradition we call this a foot. and use it on all our cookies. When they are cut out and ready to bake ,brush the bottom with a light sugar water put them on a lightly greased cookie sheet with the crushed anise seeds on it and bake . This keeps the seeds on the cookie. The degree of the oven is 300
I tried this when I made my heart shaped cookies for the children at school. There are times when I cut corners, on this day I dried the cookie, set the oven at 325*. I put the cookies on the middle pan and put a jelly roll pan full of water underneath it, now an 1/8″ cookie went to a 1/2″ cookie.
Thank you for the idea!!!
Dear Connie, first congratulations (belated) on the birth of your grandson, we also celebrated a new grandson last November. Thank you so much for your suggestions, I will try the next time I bake. One other question, I have a steam injected oven (I’m an avid baker), do you know if I use that setting would the cookies ‘rise’ the same as brushing the bottoms with water?
Again many thanks for your help and hopefully I can visit one of the open houses now that we live closer to your site.
Since it is the Christmas season, and many of us are sending cookie gifts, I wondered if you could comment on the best way to package and ship Springerle. Tami
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