Mouth watering, delicious and oh so pretty Anischräbeli Christmas cookies all the way from Switzerland is the perfect way to kick start the holiday baking season, don’t you think?
Hello December! Welcome to the month long party of decorating, baking, evenings by the fire and everything else in between. Did you know that Christmas and the New Year is the most widely celebrated festivity in the world? For the whole month of December here at CulturallyOurs, we are sharing cultures and traditions around the holidays from all over the world. Today we feast our eyes on one of the prettiest Christmas cookies we have ever seen all the way from Switzerland.
Our friend Anita Gerster shares the history and tradition behind the traditional Anischrabeli Christmas cookies from her home country of Switzerland.
From Anita,
One of the most ancient and traditional Christmas cookies from Switzerland are called Anischräbeli cookies. Also know as ‘Springerle’ or ‘Anisbrötli’, the particularity of these beautiful little pieces is in the embossing. Special decorative molds that depict intricate Christmas themes gives these cookies their shape and detailing. The history of these traditional Anisbrotli cookies goes back to the fourteenth century.
Originally the molds were used for gingerbread and mostly religious scenes were printed on the pastries. They were considered a luxury product. Then two centuries later, with the upcoming of sugar and more spices in Europe, the Anischräbeli started taking over the bakehouses all around Switzerland. Their sticky dough was just perfect for embossing tiny stories and embellishments.
Soon this new type of pastry was not only for the rich and royalty but in fact, for everybody. The printed motives in the cookie molds evolved and changed. Scenes of everyday life and of symbolic character started being popular. They were baked for every holiday and celebrations around the year. The motives and artwork kept developing and changing over the centuries as a reflection of society.
Today we mostly use these beautiful embossing molds for Christmas. Making Anischräbeli takes skill and time. As it’s a very traditional cookie, many country women have specialized in producing hundreds of them before Christmas and sell them at farmers markets and speciality Christmas popup markets.
In my region, Barbara Stuber is famous to produce the most beautiful and exemplary traditional Anischräbeli Christmas cookies. She and her husband run a farm outside of Solothurn with cows, calves, pigs, water buffalo, chicken and rabbits. With the help of their son and three employees, they manage the family business and a well-stocked shop with regional products – of course the top seller these days are the famous and traditional Anischräbeli Christmas cookies.
Her store and market popups are famous all around town and people come from far and wide to buy traditional and artisan products and cookies just in time for the holidays.
Switzerland’s traditional Anischräbeli Christmas cookies recipe
Ingredients
- 4-5 eggs
- 600g powdered sugar
- 1 tsp anice seeds, lightly roasted
- 500g flour
Method
- Beat eggs and sugar until it is creamy and airy.
- Blend in anice seeds and flour and let it rest for 10 mins.
- Separate the lightly sticky dough in four parts and roll out each part of the dough flour to a thickness of 8-10 mm.
- Dust a very light film of flour over the roll outs to make it feel silky. Now carefully place the mould on the dough and press down evenly.
- Cut around the mold and carefully lay the piece on a baking pan liner on the baking tray.
- If the leftover dough gets dry just moist your hands and continue working the dough with moist hands.
- Let the molded cookies dry for 12-24 hours in a space without ventilation.
- Then bake the Anischräbeli for 12-15 min at 150-160°C.
- Remove and cool the cookies before packing or storing them away.
Thank you Anita for this stunning introduction to traditional Anischräbeli Christmas cookies from Switzerland and to Barbara Stuber. We could spend hours in Barbara’s shop just browsing through all the artisan goods and of course tasting these amazing anischräbeli cookies – definitely on our Christmas wishlist this year!
Have you tired any Anischräbeli Christmas cookies before? They taste just as delicious as they look.
{Photos and words by Anita Gerster of Kandis Fotografie; Instagram: @kandis_fotografie}
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