Lemon Almond Springerle

I am proud to announce that I was a part of the inaugural Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. One of 625 participants. Each of us made and sent a dozen cookies to 3 people. In turn we received a dozen cookies from 3 other people. Participants hailed from multiple countries. That means there were about 22,500 cookies zipping around the world in the past few weeks.

For my part, I made lemon almond springerele. I got some new molds, and was eager to see how they worked. They were a lot finickier (is that a real word?) than the previous molds I had used. But the end result was totally worth the slight hassle. I also really wanted the lemon flavor to come through, so I tweaked the recipe a bit.

Swapped cookies: peanut butter toffee pretzel cookies from Emily of Life On Food, snickerdoodles from Chung-Ah of Damn Delicious, sunflower butter chocolate chip cookies from Michele the Food Librarian, cookeys from Michele.



The best part of the swap was getting to know new bloggers. Oh, and the excitement of opening a box of cookies! I got two boxes in one day, and the third came a few days later. My favorites were the peanut butter toffee pretzel cookies because I'm a sucker for anything with peanut butter. Thank you Chung-Ah, Emily, and Michele for all the wonderful cookies! And a HUGE "Thanks!" to Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen for the huge task of organizing the swap. Can't wait for next year!



Lemon Almond Springerle
adapted from House On The Hill

note: This recipe makes a ton of cookies. I recommend making a half batch to start with.

1/2 tsp baker’s ammonia (Hartshorn)
2 Tbs milk
6 large eggs, room temperature
6 c powdered sugar
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp of almond extract
1 tsp lemon oil
grated zest of 2 lemons
2 lb. box cake flour, sifted, plus more as needed


Dissolve baker’s ammonia in milk and let sit for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, beat eggs till thick and lemon-colored (10-20 minutes). Slowly beat in the powdered sugar, then the softened butter. Add the hartshorn and milk, salt, almond extract and lemon oil, and lemon zest. Gradually beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer, then stir in the remainder of the 2 lbs. of flour to make a stiff dough. Turn onto a well-floured surface and roll out to a ½ ” thickness. If the dough keeps sticking to the rolling pin, knead a little more flour into it.

Dust molds with some flour, making sure to get in all the crevices. Press molds into dough to imprint and cut out cookies. Repeat with remaining dough. Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with a single layer of parchment (DO NOT USE SILPAT MAT.) Let cookies dry for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

Bake on cookie sheets at 250° till barely golden on the bottom, about 10-15 minutes or more, depending on size and thickness of cookie.

Store in airtight containers or in zipper bags in the freezer. They keep for weeks, and improve with age. Yield 3 to 12 dozen.