Zweites Blech

Aniseed Cookies: Part Two

Barbara Klein English:, recipes 14 Comments

 

You will find Part I (recipe included) here.

 

Rolling out your dough and cutting cookies
Yesterday I continued with my cookie dough, took it out of the fridge and had much fun and some aha effects.

First I grounded the dough:

 

grounded

Not this way!

 

Aha effect #1: Dust working surface with flour

 

Those silicone mats are not the bee’s knees either, less is sometimes more.

My mother had a bid wooden board that slid beneath the kitchen table and was only used for baking.

 

Teig auf Granitoberflaeche

Rolled out dough

 

Aha effect # 2: A wooden or stone working surface is optimal, do not forget to slightly flour it.

 

Sterne Herzen Schmetterlinge

Not so bad for a first time

 

Aha effect 3: The dough tends to stick to the cookie forms, regularly checking them and if necessary removing dough and dusting the forms with flour.

 

I ended up with two tins laid out with more or less nice looking hearts, stars and butterflies.

Here comes another experiment:

Conditioning
Some recommend leaving the tins in a cold room, some swear it needs a warm climate. They only agree on one thing: absolutely no draught.

One tin went out in the cold winter garden, the other stayed inside.

Waiting, waiting, waiting … Give it at least 24 hours maturing time. I bridged this time with lots of eating and drinking and admiring our Christmas tree.

 

Weihnachtsbaum
Old fashioned Christmas Tree with real candles

Apfel im Blaetterteig mit Safranjoghurt

Dessert: apples in a pastry coat and saffron-cardamom-pistazio-yogurt

Baking
Preheat oven to 150° C and in goes the first tin (warm conditioning) on the lowest rack.

The result:

 

Stern auf dem Ruecken

Okay, it could be better!

 

Mounting tension: what will be the cold conditioned tin’s result:

 

Zweites Blech

Pyramid of hearts

Aha effect #4: Childhood memories surface, my mom telling us to always remember to focus on an evenly rolled out dough and exact work.

 

Gratitude to my mom for teaching me so many valuable things (not only about cooking) and big thanks to Gaston, encouraging me to dare the experiment.

That’s it for today and now I wish you all Merry Christmas and have fun baking!

 

 

Comments 14

  1. These look so good Barbara!  Aniseed is such a unique flavour and not a common one!
    Happy Boxing Day! I hope you are able to enjoy the holidays! Find a jar of pickles and relax 😉
    Lori

  2. Lori Thank you, Lori! One day you will taste them or you go to Part I and try the recipe! I love aniseed but I also love fennel, a fennel salad with orange or grapefruit slices and some roasted pine nuts – mhhhhh, might forego the pickles!

    Time to relax now and put up my feet watching a movie! Have a relaxing Boxing Day, my friend!

  3. What a treat! It was fun to see the outcome of your cooking. You illustrated so nicely, Barbara, I can almost taste those cookies! Happy Holidays to you and yours!

  4. robindavidman Thank you so much, Robin. I really wanted to show to what we have to pay attention in order to reach the best results and this includes the mistakes! And again it was a walk down memory lane, eating a lot of raw dough as nobody was watching!

    Happy Holidays, Robin, and I trust you get some me time as well!

  5. I love the butterfly cookie cutters!

    These cookies sound delicious! Unfortunately I am not much for cooking alone and lack essential tools such as rolling pins and counter space! Perhaps someday I will be able to travel to Europe and join others as they create family recipes. I’m ready to begin building a family based on love and shared interests, rather than blood.  

    The idea of learning new traditions to replace painful memories is very appealing to me.

    Hope you are enjoying a lovely holiday! 🙂

  6. Free Like Water Hi, Jen, Happy Holidays to you!

    You know you do not need a rolling pin, instead fill a pet bottle with water and use it to flatten your dough. I learnt to be inventive when we once rented a holiday flat in the mountains and I wanted to make cookies …

    Baking or cooking is so meditative and a wonderful therapy when I feel low down. You create something and on top you can eat it afterwards!

    Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you are sailing into smooth waters in 2014!

  7. Late_Bloomers Free Like Water I knew there had to be a solution! My mom also had a large wooden board that she would put on the counter when we made biscuits or cookies. 
    I don’t know if smooth waters will ever be a part of my life. My greatest hope at this moment is that I am “learning how to sail my ship.” 🙂

  8. Free Like Water Late_Bloomers Lol, Jen, then you are far better than me as I have no sea legs at all. You certainly took the initiative and you are steering your ship (sorry, I still have a lot of catching up to do).

    Off now to cook dinner, speak to you tomorrow and have a lovely evening!

  9. Okay, so once again you have me salivating, but this time with something that takes days to prepare.  Hardly fair!  😉  I’m thrilled to see you are tasting your way through the holidays, Barbara.  A woman after my own heart.  May your New Years Eve be tasty and your coming year bountiful!

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