Burning Snowman Cookies

fx

Sun, 3 Aug 2008 14:21:04 GMT

Sasha, thanks for your visit and I wish you fun with your great-grandma�s springerle mold. Indeed if you have baker�s ammonia that�s the way to go, but if you don�t you�ll get good results with regular baking powder.

Sasha

Sat, 2 Aug 2008 10:04:27 GMT

This is really interesting - I have my great-grandmother"s springerle board and have been experimenting with springerle recipes. A lot of the recipes I have swear that you must use baker"s ammonia/hartshorn instead of regular baking powder, but yours seem perfectly fine without it. I may have to try this one :)

fx

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 14:38:22 GMT

Leon, thanks for visiting!

Leon

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 08:34:54 GMT

The cookies puff upwards? Awesome. Remind me to try them somedays. Greetings from Singapore!

fx

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:40:18 GMT

Lyra, thanks for your appreciation! There is much to enjoy for the anthropologically minded pastry chef, perhaps you might read Le Diable en sucre, a book by a French anthropologist about pagan cookies across Europe. Yes I tried to make a nice pattern with the flour, French chefs call this "fraiser" or "to strawberry" literally, and there is even a precise gesture supposed to guarantee an even layer of flour!

Lyra

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:49:39 GMT

FX, as an anthropology student, I really like how you give us the historical and cultural background to your recipes. And as always, wonderful photos. It looks like you artistically spread the flour around in that first one-is that the case?

Luke

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:49:33 GMT

Well, I said human, like it concerned human day-to-day issues, rather than the Christian value of waiting for an afterlife or modern consumerist values of vying to acquire the latest and the greatest.

Humane is a different story. Those certainly were some brutal times indeed.

fx

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:58:35 GMT

Gary, thanks for visiting and hold on for more of the same!

fx

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:56:39 GMT

Luke, I share your interest for Pagan traditions. As for their being more humane, I recently visited the largest Helvet (Celts) burial site ever found, and some of the remains are rather difficult to reconcile to present days values, as empty of any religion as one can make them. Things could get really hard core.

fx

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:50:23 GMT

Karmel, when I finally upgraded by 18-year-old oven whose door had to be held in place with adhesive tape, it was like an ephiphany. Two decades of progress in one go!

fx

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:48:56 GMT

Callipygia, the snowman sure gets the raw end of the deal and the business end of the stick. But if you look at the 1973 movie The Wicker Man, you"ll see that it"s not much fun visiting inside the Wicker Man on celebration day.

fx

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:45:20 GMT

Next year I"ll try to show you the whole snowman-burning festival in Zurich!

Gary

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 07:37:17 GMT

Great recipe and I love the way you write! Will have to give these a try! Thanks

Luke

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 22:25:10 GMT

I love old Pagan traditions, especially those that haven"t become too diluted with time. They"re so much more human and earthly than traditions introduced by both Christianity and modern consumerism alike.Wonderful post!

karmel

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:19:13 GMT

Awesome!love your Miele oven. We have them too and they are the best!!Can"t wait to try these...I will eat snowman first.

Callipgyia

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:30:30 GMT

Call me sentimental, although I am ready for Spring/Summer...The snowman looks impaled by his broom and looks rather like a marshmallow being fed to the flames! Is nature always so cruel?

reclusegrl

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:08:14 GMT

Everyone should have a snowman burning festival. It is not just your recipes which are astounding.

fx

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:29:52 GMT

Paul, there are all sorts of online shops that sell Springerle molds. Most have rather tacky designs, watch what you buy!

fx

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:27:21 GMT

Vicki, I love reflective objects on dark backgrounds, but they certainly reflect everything else in the background!

fx

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:26:08 GMT

Cheese Puff, welcome back, indeed no butter in those cookies. They can be a bit too crispy for the good of your teeth though, maybe best dip them in hot milk!

Paul Mckenna

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:44:10 GMT

I looked on Ebay and there were 10 wooden examples including rolling pins all at affordable prices.

Great stuff. This is a lovely recipe to involve children, give them a sense of heritage, appreciate how important spring is.

Thanks

Paul

Vicki

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:34:04 GMT

Beautiful pictures, as always! I especially like the reflection-heavy ones near the top.

cheese_puff

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:41:55 GMT

Wow! I can"t believe it doesn"t have any butter!(How rare in Fxcuisine!:)) It"s the first time I have ever heard of this cookie and it"s a must try for me! They look so crispy and delicious~ Thanks for sharing with us, FX~

fx

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:38:58 GMT

Manda, I think the eggs are more of a problem than the pagan stamps, which you can buy as plastic reproductions all over the Internet. I like your own article about Dandelion and wish you fun in France!

fx

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:36:20 GMT

David, I think making the springerle and finding the wooden molds is actually more fun than eating them!

Manda

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:00:44 GMT

I"ve just found your site and think it"s wonderful. These biscuits look amazing and if only I ate eggs and had a pagan biscuit stamp I would certainly make some! Looking forward to reading the rest of your work. Thanks for your tips on Dandelion Syrup too, that"s the way I found you.

david

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:24:11 GMT

"For whom the bell tolls" Love your writing:) And I am ready to melt some snowmen myself and enjoy a wonderful summer! Thanks for the recipe, I love springerle, but can only get them around Christmas here.