PHOTO CAPTION: Springerle patterned rolling pin ca.1950; Springerle cookies.

By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Most families have holiday traditions, no matter the holiday we celebrate. Traditions are the rituals that connect us to our history, celebrating the generations that came before us. German Christmas cookies are the tradition that connects me to my German roots.

One of my most treasured possessions is an old, stained and smeared spiral notebook with recipes in the hand of my Oma. Safely zipped into a large freezer bag to protect its fragile pages, it lives in my cabinet wedged in between a plethora of other cookbooks.

This book is a treasure to me because, as a child, I never saw it. I did not bake Christmas cookies with my Oma. I sometimes saw her make bread or my favorite buttermilk cookies, but most of the “a pinch of this and handful of that” type of recipes were hidden deep in her head. It was like magic to me.

My grandparents lived in a Victorian house with a dining room located in the very center. Children were not allowed in the dining room after Thanksgiving Day. Cookies baked for Christmas were stored in there. The dining room had four entrances. Every door remained closed and closely monitored. Getting caught sneaking in there would definitely rate “a stick” from St. Nikolaus! Once, when I was maybe eleven, my Oma had her hands in dish water. She sent me into the darkened dining room to retrieve a dish from the corner china cupboard with a stern warning (in German), “Keep your eyes straight on the cabinet, get it and come quickly out. Don’t stop, don’t look around.”

I remember the heavenly aroma of cinnamon, cardamom and anise in the cool dark room. I certainly did not dawdle, but I still could not help seeing all the jars of different sizes and different colors, filled with fruit cookies, molasses cookies, Pfeffernüsse, Springerle and more. Turns out, storing those cookies for a couple of weeks before Christmas allowed the spice and fruit flavors to deepen and, in some cases, the cookies to soften.

Our wonderful Christmas cookie customs originated from desserts served with pagan winter solstice celebration feasts. When Christian beliefs spread over Europe throughout the Middle Ages (5th through 14th centuries), many of the old feast traditions remained, including decadent desserts.

The spice trade of the 15th century brought about increased availability of spices for food flavoring and medicines, but spices (pepper, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, cardamon, cinnamon, anise, and cloves) were expensive. Dried fruits, apricots and dates were also considered prized ingredients, as were lard, butter and sugar. Families could only afford such extravagance on the most important holidays — Christmas or Easter. Small baked spiced treats like cookies were more affordable as gifts for friends and neighbors than cakes or pies.

We have come a long way since medieval times, but some things have not changed. Many of our treasured German Christmas cookie recipes are still heavily spiced with “traditional” Christmas flavors like cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamon, anise and ginger.

My favorite Christmas cookie recipe from Oma’s brown spiral notebook is for Springerle. These anise flavored cookies, from the German province of Swabia, were originally made to honor church holy days. They were sometimes used as Christmas tree ornaments.

The cookies are rolled out with specially carved rolling pins or pressed into molds to imprint the cookie dough.  Then the cookies are cut apart and left to dry over night to preserve the impression. When baked, the underside of the cookie rises to a soft center, leaving a crisp imprint on the top. My Oma never used a Springerle rolling pin. She just rolled them out flat before letting them dry. They were still great!

You might ask what anise tastes like. Anise, either seeds or oil, give Springerle a strong taste of licorice. Recipes for Springerle vary slightly from one another, some using orange flavoring instead. Here is my grandmother’s recipe. You can make some for yourself.

Springerle

• 1 C. Sugar
• 4 Eggs, beaten to a froth
• 1 tsp. Anise oil
• 4½ C. Flour
• 4½ tsp. Baking powder
• ¼ tsp. Lemon rind

Cream sugar and egg mixture. Add other ingredients gradually. Roll out ¼ inch thick on floured board. Roll with patterned rolling pin if desired. Let dry and harden in cold room overnight. Cut apart squares and bake at 250°F. Do not brown. Cookies will be white.

Another of my favorite cookie recipes is Pfeffernüsse, which literally translates as Pepper Nuts, because, well – they contain pepper.

Pfeffernusse

• 2½ C. Flour
• ½ tsp. Cloves
• ½ tsp. Nutmeg
• ½ tsp. Cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. Ginger
• ¼ tsp. Pepper
• ¼ tsp. Cardamon
• 2 Eggs
• 1 C. Dark brown sugar (packed)
• ⅓ C. Pecans (chopped)

Sift flour and spices together. In separate bowl, mix the eggs and sugar together with rotary beater until smooth. Mix all of the other ingredients in to make a stiff (and sticky) dough. With wet hands, roll into balls and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375°F for 12-15 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar if desired. (I know that there are Pfeffernüsse recipes that have a sugar glaze instead of powdered sugar, but this is the way my Oma made them).

Many of the original German recipes called for walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts. Yet, you will see the recipes lovingly handed down through the generations here in New Braunfels call for pecans. The German immigrants in Texas, being the resourceful people that they were, substituted locally found pecans in their recipes. Pecans bear fruit in the fall, making them the perfect substitution.

Christmas cookies were very special and definitely a gift of love. Yes, ingredients were costly, but cookies were also quite a chore to make. No tubes of store-bought cookie dough for them! My Oma did not have an electric stand mixer, just the rotary hand kind. Other than the frothing of eggs, everything was mixed by hand with a whisk or spoon. Even meringue was beaten by hand. Boy, you talk about upper body strength! If you have ever gotten tired making more than one batch of cookies in one day with an electric mixer, think about how tiring it is to make one batch totally by hand. They made several batches of different kinds throughout the month of December. It was well worth it.

These recipes are only samples of the German baking tradition as they survive in the fifth, sixth or seventh generations of immigrant families here in New Braunfels. Make some up (or get some at Naegelin’s) and share the Love! Merry Christmas!

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives; Recipe Collection, Wanda Voigt.

“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.