Patience pays when baking hard anise cookies
Numerous Taste of the Town readers came to the aid of Cindy Zambarano, who’s looking for a recipe for an ultra-hard anise cookie that her 88-year-old father remembers his grandmother baking. Most of them said the cookies sounded like springerle, which I remember my own grandmother baking in addition to little round anise cookies. (And reader Phyllis Mack said some pfeffernusse, or “peppernut,” recipes also contain anise.)
As the owner of a springerle roller and someone who routinely watches the intricate patterns disappear in baking, I was interested to note that almost all of the recipes said the cookies should be dried overnight before baking. At any rate, here are recipes from Linda Ann Raia (“from my aunt Mary Pirrella, may she rest in peace”) and Edna M. Bulach. Thanks also to Karen Hadrick and Renate Dancer, and to William Isaac, who remembers chipping a tooth on springerle when he was young, and who suggested checking with Freed’s or Great Buns.
ANISE COOKIES
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 to 2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon anise seeds, crushed
Beat eggs very light, add sugar and continue beating 30 minutes.
Add flour sifted with baking powder and the crushed anise seeds. Beat again for 5 minutes.
Drop from teaspoon onto well-greased and -floured pans 1 inch apart. Let stand at room temperature overnight, or about 10 hours.
Bake in a 350-degree oven for 8 minutes.
— Recipe from Linda Ann Raia
SPRINGERLE
4 eggs, separated
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon anise seeds
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
Beat yolks until very light. Add confectioners’ sugar. Add beaten egg whites and beat well. Add anise seeds and baking powder and beat again. Add the cake flour and knead on a board for a few minutes.
Roll out and cut cookies. Let cookies stand overnight, then bake on greased cookie sheets in a 350-degree oven for 15 to 30 minutes.
“These are hard as rocks but we put them in a coffee can with a slice of bread to soften,” Bulach wrote. “Works great.”
— Recipe from Edna Bulach
More Reader Finds
For Brad Dunaway, who’s looking for freshly made divinity candy, Richard Ward emailed that the Death Valley Nut & Candy at 900 E. Highway 95 N. in Beatty has “some of the best I have ever found, and they also do mail orders.” Call (775) 553-2100.
For Dorothy Twesme, Ann Brown reported spotting delicata and dumpling squashes at Glazier’s Food Marketplace at 8525 W. Warm Springs Road, and Elizabeth Stefano saw them at Smith’s at 9851 W. Charleston Blvd.
More on mac and cheese: Leonard Rezac recommended the version served at Vito’s Italian Cuisine at 2775 E. Northern Ave. in Kingman, Ariz.
More Reader Requests
Isaac is looking for Marie’s Roquefort Salad Dressing and Sechler’s Pickles, especially the Sweet Dill Strip variety.
Ray Ellis is looking for a local source for coconut custard pie.
And Gloria Shapiro is looking for a local source for gingerbread men she remembers from neighborhood German bakeries in Chicago when she was a child. They had paper pictures on the front, and were soft, she said.
Readers?
Submit information to Heidi Knapp Rinella, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0070. You also can send faxes to 702-383-4676 or email her at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. If emailing, please put “Taste of the Town” in the subject line. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.