Ken Hamilton, the Springerle baker

Palais Adelmann Mold - 11 1/2" x 6 11/16" x 7/8"

Jörg Graf Adelmann with mold

The mold "Palais Adelmann" has 12 different pictures and is very detailed. Notice the different borders and all the fine lines. A master carvers work. I am told this piece was used during the Christmas holidays and had a cherished place in the home.

"The model comes from my cousin Elisabeth von Stieglitz, the daughter of the sister of my father. Before it was in the "Palais Adelmann" in Ellwangen. There it was used always in Christmas season for cooking little cookies. It is a typical Swabian mold from here in the south of Germany.

Palais Adelmann in Ellwangen, Germany

Springerle are typical Christmas cookies for Swabia. They are know here at least since the 17th. century.
The name refers probably to the fact that the cookies "jump" (in German "springen") or raise during the baking process.
Painted Springerle were used as gifts and as Christmas Tree decorations

Sigmund Graf Adelmann von Adelmannsfelden 1809-64
Son Heinrich 1848-1920
Son Sigmund 1876-1926
Daughter Hadwiga von Stieglitz 1923-2002
Daughter Elisabeth von Stieglitz 1953 -

4 eggs
500g powdered sugar (icing sugar)
500g wheat flour
grated rind of lemon
a pinch of hartshorn salt
butter for greasing the baking sheet
Anise seed

Beat the eggs with the powdered sugar until foamy and all the sugar has been dissolved. Add the sieved flour with the hartshorn salt and the grated rind of lemon. Knead the dough thoroughly.
Allow the dough to rest for 1 to 2 hours and knead it again briefly after that.
Roll out the dough about 1 cm thick. Dust the surface of the dough as well as the Springerle mold. Remove excessive flour from the mold by knocking it gently with the motive facing down against the working surface.
Press the mold into the dough and remove it carefully. Cut out the different motives with a pastry wheel.
Allow the Springerle to rest over night.
Preheat the over to 160° C. Place the Springerle on a greased baking sheet which has been sprinkled with the Anise seed. Use the middle rack and leave a little gap when closing the oven door for the first 20 minutes.
Close the oven door completely and bake the cookies until the have yellow "feet" but still a white surface with the motive.
The Springerle must be prepared ahead of Christmas because they need some time to become soft. The best way for storage is in a tin box which is kept on a cool place for about four weeks.