When it comes to the art of baking, few efforts yield edible masterpieces of such rich historical significance and decorative splendor as molded cookies.
Molded cookies boast a lengthy and sometimes dramatic history. Some of the earliest cookie molds are thought to have been used for preparing gingerbread in Europe during the Middle Ages.
“People back then were hungry for pictures,” says cookie maven Caroline Kallas, owner of House-on-the-Hill, a mail-order baking supply firm in Lombard.
Kallas goes on to tell of an English gingerbread mold commissioned in the 1300s that bore the likeness of Siamese-twin girls born to a wealthy family. To honor the girls’ lives, the family arranged for molded cookies–along with proceeds from a property donation–to be distributed annually to the poor.
More common mold designs depicted nativities and religious motifs, themes of love and marriage (wedding molds featured babies interwoven around a happy couple), soldiers, historical events and family crests. Even scenes from everyday life were common, such as a pair of quarreling spouses and what are best described as bawdy images.
In her book “Cookie Cutters & Cookie Molds,” Phyllis Wetherill writes of the 19th Century American molds that produced panel-by-panel edible editorial cartoons. Unpopular opinions could be easily disposed of with delicious aplomb. Politicians also distributed cookies molded in their image, thus creating the ultimate edible campaign button
Early molds were made of stone, fired clay or metal. By the 17th Century, however, most molds were carved in wood and commissioned from master carvers by royalty, the wealthy or gingerbread-baker guilds who would then undertake modest-scale mass production of cookies for an eager public. Many molds displayed intricate detail.
“Sometimes jewelers were pressed into carving service,” Kallas says, “as were grandfathers in poor families” who might then craft plainer molds for family use. Woodworkers often carved designs into both sides, thus saving material.
Although antique wooden cookie molds have become collectibles, more affordable contemporary versions combine function and decoration. Prices for such molds are $7 to $65.
Kallas’ business offers more than 200 imported Swiss molds, most of which are composite (food-safe resin and powdered wood) reproductions of 150- to 500-year-old originals.
Intrigued by molded cookies since childhood, Kallas savors the “personalities” and historical significance of antique designs.
“There’s almost a soulful appeal,” she says. “Using the old-style molds, you can participate with their creators and make something that’s `now-but-then.’ “
Her zest for this unique style of baking led her, with the help of her sister, to make 1,000 orange-flavored springerle hearts for her daughter’s wedding.
Carvers of original wood molds in the U.S. are rare. Gene Wilson of Belleville, Ill., began crafting molds as decorative plaques 25 years ago and ultimately created his own mail-order cottage industry. Wilson considers himself a woodcarver first. He begins his individual creations with a router (“sort of like freehand engraving”), then adds hand-carved detailing to beechwood, cherry and hard maple molds.
Pennsylvania carver Don Dillon works entirely by hand with a 450-piece set of gouges he acquired in Germany. Dillon copies antique styles and creates his own designs.
Moderately priced, commercially made clay molds are widely available at culinary and craft stores, such as Williams-Sonoma and the Michael’s chain. Such molds offer a range of more fanciful, if simpler, designs.
The best-known style of molded cookie is springerle (SPRING-ur-lee), white, anise-flavored cookies formed by pressing a multiple-image mold or carved rolling pin into dough. Many Europeans lay claim to early springerle, but it is believed that the cookie is of German origin–springerle means “jumper” or “springer”–presumably because the cookie dough rises, or “springs up,” to half again its height during baking.
Because early springerle cookies contained no butter, they became popular among a populace that observed religious fasting laws that forbade the consumption of butter during Advent. Baking powder is a contemporary leavening agent, but traditional recipes call for hartshorn. Also known as “baker’s ammonia” or ammonium carbonate, hartshorn yields a lighter, more delicate texture than today’s popular substitutes. Novice users should not be deterred by its ammonia odor.
“A good whiff will clear the nostrils,” Kallas says. “It’s just like smelling salts.” Rest assured that the odor dissipates during baking.
Springerle are often molded in small, intricate squares within a similarly molded border.
The cookies then require 2 to 24 hours of drying before baking. (Kallas says that concerns over salmonella are unfounded as any bacteria are killed during baking.)
Though the molded cookies can be used for dessert or decoration without further adornment, a plain springerle cookie is a blank canvas, its intricate, raised detailing presenting a tempting challenge that can be taken up with high-quality artist’s brushes (no dime-store value-packs here, please) and diluted food colors (for consumables) or watercolor paints (if treats are used only for decoration).
Speculaas (spe-coo-lahs) are a molded treat of Dutch origin that are most familiar in this country as the popular windmill-style cookie. Speculaas (or spekulatius in German) is a variation of the Latin speculum, or mirror, as each individual cookie is a mirror image of the mold that formed it. Such molds form the entire cookie shape, as opposed to the springerle style of including background scenery.
The butter content of most traditional speculaas recipes keeps them from holding exceptionally fine detail and, because of their larger size, speculaas molds can be more challenging to maneuver. Rather than stamping the dough with the mold, as with springerle, speculaas dough is pressed into the mold and the excess cut away.
Molds that do allow great detail are the shallow versions intended for Swiss tirggel. Developed by bakers in Zurich, tirggel is a hard, wafer-thin biscuit of honey, flour, water, sugar and spices. Quick baking in thin, flat molds helps set a pattern in relief, tinged brown from the heat in contrast to a light, almost translucent background.
Traditional tirggel molds are round and often boast formal border designs of laurel leaves. Tirggel work well as Christmas tree decorations, absorbing background lighting so as to give off a muted glow.
DUTCH SPECULAAS
Preparation time: 1 1/2 to 2 hours
Chilling time: 4 hours or overnight
Baking time: 10 to 15 minutes
Yield: About 20 medium cookies; varies with mold size
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon each: ground ginger,nutmeg, cloves, salt
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1. Cream butter and sugar in mixer bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add spices and salt; mix well. Add milk and extract; beat until smooth.
2. Gradually add flour and baking powder, beating well after each addition. Cover dough and refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
3. Spray molds with non-stick vegetable spray and dust with flour. Tap mold lightly to remove excess flour. Press a portion of dough into cavity of mold. Cut away excess dough from back and edges. Holding the mold with dough-filled cavity facing down, slam bottom edge of mold against towel-covered work surface. The cookie edge will loosen and release. Gently remove cookie from mold and transfer to greased cookie sheet.
4. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake until firm and dry but not browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes before removing to wire cooling rack. Cool completely.
Nutrition information per medium cookie:
Calories…….180 Fat………….. 10 g Cholesterol….25 mg
Sodium….. 130 mg Carbohydrates…. 22 g Protein……….2 g
MERINGUE SPRINGERLE COOKIES
Preparation time: 11/2 to 2 hours
Chilling time: 4 hours or overnight
Baking time: 10 to 15 minutes
Drying time: 2 to 24 hours
Yield: About 20 medium cookies; varies with mold size
6 egg whites
1 box (1 pound) confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon anise oil or 2 teaspoons anise extract
3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups flour plus additional for rolling
1. Beat egg whites in small mixer bowl with electric mixer until stiff peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Gently fold in sugar, baking powder and oil or extract. Stir in enough flour to make a very stiff dough. Cover dough and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
2. Sprinkle surface with flour. Divide dough into small manageable pieces. Roll out one piece of dough at a time to 1/4-inch thickness. Spray cookie mold of your choice with non-stick vegetable spray and dust with flour. Tap out any excess flour.
3. Place mold on dough. Press down firmly enough to make clear, deep impressions of the design; carefully lift off mold. Cut around cookies with floured knife, pastry wheel or pizza cutter. Place cookies on greased cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Let cookies air dry, uncovered, 2 to 24 hours before baking.
4. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake cookies until firm and dry but not brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet; transfer to wire cooling rack. Cool completely.
Nutrition information per medium cookie:
Calories……175 Fat…………..0.3 g Cholesterol……..0 mg
Sodium……65 mg Carbohydrates…..40 g Protein………….3 g
GINGERBREAD COOKIES
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Chilling time: 4 hours or overnight
Baking time: 10 to 15 minutes
Yield: About 3 dozen medium cookies
1 cup each: light molasses, butter or margarine, dark brown sugar
5 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1. Heat molasses in large saucepan until it is just about to simmer. Remove from heat; stir in butter and brown sugar. Set aside to cool.
2. Sift flour, ginger, cinnamon and salt together in large bowl. Stir egg and vanilla into molasses mixture. Add 1/2 of flour mixture to molasses mixture; mix well. Add remaining 2 1/2 cups flour and stir until incorporated. Cover dough; refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
3. Spray molds with non-stick vegetable spray and dust with flour. Tap mold lightly to remove excess flour. Press a portion of dough into cavity of mold. Cut away excess dough from back and edges. Holding the mold with dough-filled cavity facing down, slam bottom edge of mold against towel-covered work surface. The cookie edge will loosen and release. Gently remove cookie from mold and transfer to greased cookie sheet.
4. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake until firm and dry but not browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes; remove to wire cooling rack. Cool completely.
Nutrition information per medium cookie:
Calories………..150 Fat…………..5 g Cholesterol…..20 mg
Sodium………..75 mg Carbohydrates…24 g Protein………..2 g
WHERE TO FIND COOKIE MOLDS
–House-on-the-Hill, Box 7003, Villa Park, Ill. 60181, 630-969-2624. Prices for authentic reproduction cookie molds start at $15 for a single image and go up to $85 for a large, elaborately carved mold. Ethnic cookbooks and baking supplies also are available. Catalog ($2, refunded with first order) is available by mail request only.
–HOBI Handcrafts, Box 25, Belleville, Ill. 62222. In addition to traditionally styled cookie molds, priced from $15 to $65, carver Gene Wilson also offers cookie stamps and butter molds; custom designs available during the off-season (January-May). Catalog is $1 (refunded with order).
–Don Dillon, 850 Meadow Lane, Camp Hill, Pa. 17011. Dillon carves his molds by hand, ensuring that each piece is an individual. Prices range from $7 to $35. Brochure is $1 (refunded with order).
For more information
–Cookies is a bimonthly newsletter that contains historical information about the shaping of cookies; new and old molds, cutters, irons, presses, etc. Write to Rosemary Henry, 9610 Greenview Lane, Manassas, Va. 20109. Six issues are $10; a sample issue is $1.
SECRETS TO SUCCESS WITH MOLDED COOKIES
Though working with cookie molds can be intimidating for beginners, their admirers say the results are well worth the effort. Here are some tips gleaned from the wisdom of experts:
–High humidity can prevent cookies from drying properly, so springerle are bestprepared on a dry day.
— Prepare molded doughs by feel in lieu of strict adherence to a recipe. Add sufficient flour for dough to feel smooth and not overly-sticky. This will make it easier to remove dough from molds. Also, try chilling molds beforehand.
— When working with a deep mold for springerle, first roll out a piece of dough on a lightly floured surface. Lay the dough over the mold and gently press into the cavity of the mold. Use extra dough to fill in the empty space in cavity. Turn the mold over and with even pressure, roll a rolling pin over the back of the mold, opposite the dough-filled cavity. Excess dough covering the cavity of a mold can be eliminated and smoothed by running a wire across it.
— Rather than risk ruining an entire batch of carefully prepared cookies, test-bake a few in your oven.
— When using tiny molds, reduce oven temperature to as low as 200 degrees. This will prevent the dough from overexpanding, which blurs the fine detail of the impression. You also may have to increase the baking time to compensate.
–If you are planning to hang cookies as ornaments, use a straw to make the hole before the cookies dry.
— To suit individual preferences, anise flavoring can be added to a partial batch of cookies afterbaking. Omit anise when making the dough recipe and use theflavoring of your choice, such as vanilla extract, or orange orcinnamon oils. Store some of the baked cookies in a sealed container with anise seeds.
–Springerle cookies are said to improve with age. While some enthusiasts believe they should mellow in a sealed container for a week, many German cooks insist on three to four weeks. If less crisp cookies are desired, store them with half an apple or a slice of bread from which they’ll absorb moisture. Continue this for a week, but be sure to change the apple or bread every day.
–Springerle cookies will bake to a cream color, then lighten as they sit. If you keep them long enough, they will turn white. This may take several weeks.
–To keep wooden molds in prime condition, avoid placing them in water. After use, brush them out with a clean, dry toothbrush and if desired, rub with a thin coat of mineral oil before storing or hanging.
Alicia Tessling and Diane Arkins
