Then you will love this great idea for Springerle from Vicky Shoup! Vicky lives in a midwest area that has hot sticky summers, but has solved the drying problem that makes the summer making of Springerle so very tricky.  I have advised bakers in the past to turn their air conditioners down to 60 degrees and turn on the dehumidifier. This works, but uses lots of power! Vicky dries the formed springerle in her Excalibur dehydrator for several hours at the lowest setting. (She uses a longer time for larger cookies;she makes time adjustments for both size and thickness.)  The cookies should be placed on a solid sheet, not a rack. The front cover of the dehydrator needs to be ajar to allow air circulation and to keep the temperature lower. Check  cookies often to make sure they are not too warm.  If they get too warm, turn off the dehydrator and open its door.   She checks the drying cookies after several hours and insures that a “crust ” has dried on the top and that there is still an area of moist dough in the center of the bottom surface. If the cookies get too dry on the bottom, you can brush a small amount of water on the bottom of the cookies before baking. Thus, the pattern is set and she is able to bake the cookies on the same day, even in the most humid conditions.

This is a great idea and I am anxious to try this technique.   This is a bonus for  you Florida bakers who have gotten so frustrated that you are unable to successfully make Springerle.

Thank you Vicky!!

Or maybe you just want to try this for the fun and experimentation….but it is a little tricky!

Now, then about storage…..tightly sealed tins in a cool dry environment will allow you to keep the cookies for months. The cookies must be baked so that no doughiness remains after baking! You must make sure the cookies are completely cool before you pack them in layers with wax paper in between the layers. You want NO steam in the closed tin which may cause the cookies to mold. The cookies will “mellow” in storage and become drier. The “mellowing” is particularly important when you flavor the cookies by using only anise seed on the bottom surface of the cookie, but also a good idea for cookies flavored with anise oil. I think it is less important with the non-traditional flavors such as lemon and orange. Family tradition may dictate the dryness of the cookie that you prefer, which can vary the time that you might wish to mellow your cookies. Most people, by tradition, make their springerle around Thanksgiving time, allowing approximately 4 weeks of mellowing/drying time. For anise flavor, I would allow at least 2 weeks before serving, but I also like them as soon as they have cooled. The flavor will intensify with time, so if you need to serve them sooner, you may want to slightly increase your flavoring oil amount. In high humidity, the springerle may mold and you may consider freezing them in sealed zip bags.

It’s a great advantage to have a cookie that can be made well in advance of other baking demands. So take into account your particular weather, the date you need the springerle, your personal preferences and your available storage.

So how do you choose?

Here are some considerations: size, use, design and of course available time. Single cookie molds are design specific and are available in a range of sizes. Generally, multiple presses are smaller cookies, but there are various sizes. You need not give up beauty for efficiency, as there are many beautiful multiple presses. You just need to press hard enough to get a really clean casting and keep the pressing even so the the cookies are the same thickness throughout. So, if you need many cookies to serve with other dessert choices, a smaller cookie make work best. And if you make thousands of cookies, a multiple press may save your sanity.  I make many, many cookies for samples and sharing and often go this route. You may also want to consider the containers you wish to use for storage. Some cookie sizes are too large to fit in certain tins or containers. A beautifully packaged single cookie for a special event may call for a larger cookie with a specific theme. This week I made cookies for a wine tasting and the obvious design choice was a grape motif, a decision based solely on theme.  I was willing to take the time to press each cookie to have this specific design.  There is an advantage to springerle in that you can (and should) make them in advance….a very helpful quality. Yes, you CAN have beauty and speed.

Yours in happier baking!  Connie

But if you decide to try the hartshorn, here are some things you shoud know.  Firstly, it stinks!! Yes when you open the jar it smells stongly of ammonia, which makes sense since it’s ammonium carbonate. Secondly, it will readily evaporate if you do not keep it tightly sealed (also why it’s aroma is so strong). Also, you should NOT eat the raw dough as it will give you a frightful and painful case of flatulence. This is probably another reason that it  is not as commonly used anymore. Afterall, it is difficult to keep the cookie monsters at bay. The ammonia  dissipates when you bake the cookies. You can substitute hartshorn 1 for 1 for baking powder in other cookie and cracker recipes. Don’t use it in breads, cakes, or rolls, only in baked goods that are thinner and fully baked, so that you know that the ammonia is comletely gone. You might want to try it in a sugar cookie recipe, just for fun, to see the difference in texture.

Happy Baking!   Connie