Springerle is a traditional Bavarian shortbread cookie with anise seeds on the bottom and a slight lemon flavor due to lemon zest. A special rolling pin or wooden mold carved with images is used to make these cookies extra special. The batch in the photo was my first attempt at making these years ago, when I was new to a springerle rolling pin and didn’t get much indentation in the surface. Since then, it’s become a holiday staple. If you don’t love anise, that means more for me!

I lost the recipe that my great-aunt Mary gave me, so I looked at a stack of recipes online and came up with the following as an amalgamation of the common ingredients and steps. This is similar enough to the cookies she used to make.

Note: This is a two-day process. Plan to roll out the dough at least 12 hours before baking.

4 eggs
2 tbsp butter
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp lemon zest
1/4 cup anise seeds*

*I once substituted 1 teaspoon of anise extract in the dough instead of using anise seeds under the cookies. This gave a little anise flavor, but I’d recommend adding more extract to punch it up next time.

Beat eggs in large mixing bowl until very light. Add sugar, lemon zest, and butter, then cream together until light and fluffy.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and combine. Knead dough until smooth. Add more flour to get a smooth dough if necessary.

Cover the dough and allow to chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Roll onto a slightly floured board to 1/2-inch thickness. Then, roll again with a springerle roller to make designs. Cut at border.

Sprinkle anise seed on clean tea towel and place cookies on this. Allow to stand overnight (don’t cover) to dry.

Bake 12-15 minutes at 325 F. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container; the longer they are stored, the more anise flavor they take up.