RobtE wrote:
> I had a collection of aunts that made Bertie Wooster's look like a
> vicar's tea party. Every year about this time Great-Aunt Myrtle would
> descend upon us with a batch of her annual baking. We could conclude
> only that she was intent on wiping out the rest of the family so that
> her daughers could inherit /everything/. Her German Christmas cookies
> were like concrete. Honest, if George W decided to drop these things on
> Iraq the war would be over in a matter of days. The only way you could
> even bite through her cookies was to plunge them into your coffee and
> leave them there until the coffee had gone cold.
>
> Rumour had it that she had a special rolling pin that shaped her cookies
> into their traditional rectangles, with their raised shapes of knights
> and damsels. She apparently made these WMDs in the autumn and then
> intentionally left them to go stale and hard.
>
> Yes, I know Google is my friend, and I've no problems Googling for a
> recipe, but I need a name for these things to Google on. Anyone have any
> ideas? As I remember them, they were vaguely anise-seed flavoured, if
> that helps any.
>
> RobtE


Springerle, perhaps?

(Note this recipe is exactly as it appears int he 1971 edition of
Farm Journal Cookies Cookbook. I have never made them.)

4 eggs
2 cups sugar (superfine works best)
4 cups sifted cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon anise seeds (or 6 drops anise oil)

Using electric mixer at low speed, beat eggs in a large bowl. Gradually
add sugar, then beat at medium speed 10 minutes.

SIft together flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend into egg mixture
alternately with butter, mixing well. Cover dough with waxed paper or
foil, chill 1 hour.

Dust surface lightly with flour, pat or roll out half the dough at a
time to a tiny bit thicker than 1/2 inch. (sic) Lightly flour
springerle board and press it down firmly on the dough. Lift carefully
so as not to mar the lines of the designs. If board sticks to dough,
lightly flour it and the top of the dough. Brush off flour after
removing board. (If you use a springerle rolling pin, roll the dough to
a flat sheet 1/2 inch thick, then roll over it with the springerle
roller just once to press in designs.)

Lightly grease baking sheet and sprinkle evenly with anise seeds. Lift
dough carefully to baking sheet, cover loosely with waxed paper and let
stand overnight.

When ready to bake, cut dough to cookie size along lines made by the
board or roller. Separate on baking sheet by 1/2 inch.

Bake in a moderate oven (350 F) 5 minutes, then reduce heat to slow
(300F) and continue baking about 10 minutes longer. Remove cookies and
cool on racks. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.

gloria p