Tag: dessert

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Turning Into a Pumpkin

By Fran Hill

This week I have been battling a nasty sinus cold (and to be honest, at the end of last week as well, but at that time I was bound and determined to diagnose my runny nose and headache as just allergies). After pushing through a few days of feeling icky, I hit rock bottom with a cough, severe congestion, body aches and all the miserable symptoms that make me a whiny mess. Therefore, I kinda feel like I am turning into a pumpkin with the deadline for this South Dakota Magazine submission sneaking up on me.

However, never fear; even with my head feeling pumpkin-like, I won’t let you down. I will use that as inspiration. My archives hold a great pumpkin dessert that I have made so many times that I could probably make it in my NyQuil-aided sleep. Pumpkin Gingerbread with Warm Caramel Sauce came from one of those Pillsbury pamphlet-style cookbooks sold at the checkout stand of the grocery store. The cover photo of a square of deliciously old-fashioned cake topped with a perfect scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzled with warm caramel sauce screamed “Fall!” and was incredibly tempting. I couldn’t resist this sweet, spiced pumpkin comfort food, and I am betting that you can’t, either.

Pumpkin Gingerbread

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cloves
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg


Preheat oven to 350F. Combine flour and sugar. Mix in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs. In a 9-inch square baking pan, place 1 3/4 cups of the mixture and press evenly along the bottom to form a crust. Add pecans, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt and cloves to crumb mixture and stir well. Add buttermilk, molasses, pumpkin and egg. Pour batter on top of the crust in the baking pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Warm Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream


Melt butter in a heavy saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and corn syrup. Stirring constantly, bring mixture to a boil, and cook for 1 minute or until sugar dissolves. Gradually add cream and return to a boil. Remove from heat.

To serve, top each serving with scoop of vanilla ice cream and spoon sauce over warm gingerbread. Serves 9-12.


Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their two dogs ranch near Colome.

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A Delicious Contest

The Greater Midwest Foodways Heirloom Recipes Contest was held last Sunday at the Woman’s Expo building at the South Dakota State Fair. Four women competed in this year’s event — all brought delicious food with deep roots in their family histories. (The recipes and stories will be posted at greatermidwestfoodways.com at a later date.)

There was also a bonus recipe –well-creased instructions for making suet pudding, provided by Avis Hardie of Clear Lake. Her grandmother, Susan Jenvey Clarke Tranter, brought it to South Dakota when she emigrated from England to Hand County in 1908. Suet is the hard white fat around the kidneys and loins of cattle and other animals, and was once a common ingredient in steamed puddings.

Suet Pudding

2/3 cup of suet — chopped fine
1 cup of molasses (Tranter instructed,”I use syrup. 1/2 cup of molasses would be plenty by using more milk and sugar. Honey would be about the same sweetness as syrup. Honey I believe 3/4 of a cup.”)
1 cup of sweet milk
1 cup of raisins
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg or other spice

Mix as written. Boil or steam 3 hrs. Half of this recipe makes a good pudding. Tranter wrote,”You know these little brown pudding pans I have. I use one of those for half the recipe.”

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Savoring the Story

By Laura Andrews


I wish I’d carried pencil and paper with me when I was growing up. I spent a fair amount of time with my elders over the years, and there are so many things that I thought would be forever cemented in my memory that have slipped away, perhaps for good. It makes me sad to think about all the stories entrusted to me over the years that are now lost. I should’ve taken better notes. Heck, ANY notes would’ve made a difference.

Then there are the half-remembered tidbits stuck in my head that no one else can verify. My grandparents told me about some foods their parents made back in the 1930s — malt leader beer, a non-alcoholic brew, and buttermilk jam. Perhaps both were products of hard times. Buttermilk was something Great-Grandma Mark had in abundance on her farm near Viborg, and a homemade non-alcoholic beer would have quenched Great-Grandpa Skoven’s thirst in those hot, dusty days of Prohibition. But I don’t have recipes, and I haven’t had any luck finding any. They weren’t deemed important enough to pass down.

And then there’s the flip side. Have you ever paged through an old community cookbook and found a recipe that stopped you in your tracks? I have. The recipe giver may be credited, if you’re lucky, but you don’t know why this particular food was so important that they wanted to share it with their community. Was it traditional in their family, picked up on a trip or clipped out of a newspaper? Was it an everyday meal or fancy food that was only brought out for company? Were they famous or infamous for making this dish? You can recreate it if you want to, but you’ll never know why it mattered to them.

That’s why I’m excited to travel to the South Dakota State Fair this Sunday. I’ll be helping Catherine Lambrecht of the Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance judge the Heirloom Recipes Contest. Participants will bring a favorite homemade family recipe that dates before 1950, along with the story behind it. We’ll get to sample South Dakota tastes of years ago and place them in the context of their times.

Pre-registration is over, but if you have a recipe you’d like to share, take a look at the contest rules and please join us on Sept. 1 at 11:30 am in the Women’s Building. Last year’s entries were dessert-heavy, but savory recipes are very welcome too.



When I first read this recipe in an old Yankton cookbook from 1946, I was a little taken aback.”You call that a dessert?” I thought. My husband suspected the recipe submitter, the pastor’s wife, was having a little laugh at her congregation’s expense. The truth probably relates to the times. Sugar was rationed from May 1942 to June 1947 because of World War II, so many housewives turned to marshmallows as a substitute.

While this recipe was by no means the weirdest thing I’ve ever found in an old community cookbook (the Jello salad section is always good for oddities), it is one of the few I’m actually willing to try. As I sample it, I’ll wonder what Mrs. Wicks’ name actually was, why this recipe was significant enough for her to put her name to, and if it was still popular with her family after the wartime restrictions were lifted. If you’re a Wicks descendant (or if you’ve got recipes for malt leader beer or buttermilk jam), please leave a comment below.

Marshmallow Dessert

Submitted by Mrs. T. G. Wicks
Trinity Lutheran Cook Book, 3rd edition, printed August 1946

24 marshmallows
1 cup strong coffee — cool
1 cup whipping cream
Nuts to flavor

Whip coffee and marshmallows. Fold in whipped cream. Leave in refrigerator until ready to serve. Serve in sherbet glasses.

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Edgar’s Old Fashioned Soda Fountain

Sweet-toothed travelers on I-29 find it hard to resist the Elk Point exit, thanks to Kevin and Barb Wurtz of Elk Point. The Union County duo has been serving ice cream sodas, sundaes, phosphates and other old fashioned treats for 25 years at Edgar’s Soda Fountain, located in Pioneer Drug at 107 E Main St.

Taking over a small town drugstore and opening a ice cream parlor in a fast-moving, soft-serve era were bold moves, but the Wurtzes were up to the challenge. “When we bought the store in 1977 it was kind of scary. Little towns were dying, and here we were expanding. In 1988 when we remodeled and brought the soda fountain in, the distributor advised against it. ‘They’re not doing that,’ he told us. But we knew what we wanted to do and we did it, and it worked,” Barb said.

The soda fountain first made its debut in Centerville in 1906, where it served up ice cream at the local drugstore for nearly 50 years. When pharmacist Edgar Schmiedt, Barb’s grandfather, retired in the 1960s he put the old fountain in storage. He gave it to Barb and Kevin, and in appreciation they named the new store in his honor. The neon logo is Edgar’s signature. “We started out to remodel as cheap as possible,” Barb said of their 1988 expansion. “But when we saw how neat the historic renovation was going to be, we shifted our thinking to what was possible.”

Edgar’s has gained recognition in magazines from Midwest Living to Gourmet. The grand opening story in the Sioux City Journal quoted Grandpa Edgar as saying the malts were “damn good,” and the next weekend the place was swamped with people demanding malts. “Why couldn’t Grandpa have said the ice cream cones were damn good?” Barb wondered.

Some customers favor Edgar’s Rocket, a vertical banana split. Really hungry diners do the Dirty Shoe, a brownie with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, hot caramel, marshmallows, Oreos, coconut and cashews. Edgar’s Favorite Malt is served in a glass, and you get the overflow in the mixing tin.

Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the July/August 2000 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call 800-456-5117.


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My Mulberry Harvest

By Ruth Steil

A large mulberry tree grew at the back of our farm, between a rusted horse-drawn plow and a pile of lumber. It was a place only curious children and chickens explored. When the summer heat grew high, we hopscotched barefoot through purple splotches of fallen fruit, then reached high in the tree to grab the juicy berries to eat from our hands.

I hadn’t thought about mulberries for a long time. But one year, when I heard the berries were ripe, I embarked on a first-time jam-making adventure.

On a sunny, still morning, my husband and I met a friend and his dog, Yeller, at their farm to pick mulberries. We drove through tall wind-waving grass to a row of trees at the side of a field. Yeller leaned out the car window, ears flapping, a big dog smile sucking in cool morning air redolent with growing corn and freshly turned soil.

As we stepped out of the car, we saw a deer patiently watching us from across the field. He must have been interested in the mulberries, too. There were hoof prints and what I thought were deer droppings on the ground around the trees. My companions insisted the pellets came from rabbits. Yankton County must grow some big rabbits.

I’d read that picking mulberries is easy if you shake them into an old sheet or tarp. We shook the branches over an inexpensive paint tarp from the hardware store. In less than a half-hour, we had a large bowl full of mulberries — as well as ticks, ladybugs, spiders, some twigs and a caterpillar. I suspect removing all these adds enough time to the sorting process to make handpicking almost as efficient. But then I also tried to carefully return as many of the little creatures as I could to the outdoors — except for the ticks.

Somewhere in school, I’d learned that silkworms consume mulberry leaves while spinning their silken cocoons. So I wondered if that little caterpillar was a silkworm. With a little research, I discovered that silkworms, like so many other species, sadly don’t survive in nature anymore.

According to a Web site I consulted, the mulberries should soak for an hour and then be rinsed and drained. I’ve since learned that berries absorb water and will lose flavor if you do this. Kay Stevens, author of Wild Season: Gathering and Cooking Wild Plants of the Great Plains, recommends soaking the mulberries for three minutes in salt water — º cup salt to a gallon of water — draining the salt water and then gently rinsing. I removed the stems on the berries with a newly-purchased cuticle scissors, but Stevens writes that she’s never seen a need to remove the stems and has never had any complaints.

If you’re planning to attend a big event — say, your daughter’s wedding — wear rubber gloves while working with mulberries. My husband recalls, while vacationing on the farm with his grandparents, rubbing his entire body with mulberries. When he went to the house to surprise them with his artistry, his grandmother was horrified. Mulberries do stain, but not nearly as badly as I had remembered. After a day or two, the purple on my hands disappeared and our stained dish towels bleached clean.

Mulberry Streusel Coffee Cake

Filling:

3 1/2 cups mulberries
1 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch

Batter:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cold butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup (8 oz.) sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Glaze:

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Filling: in a large saucepan, cook mulberries and water over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add lemon juice. Combine sugar and cornstarch, and stir into fruit mixture. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Cool.

Batter: In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Batter will be stiff.

Spread half of the batter into a greased 13x9x2 baking dish. Spread mulberry filling over batter. Spoon remaining batter over filling.

Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. When cool, drizzle glaze over the top. Makes 12-16 servings.



Editor’s Note: This story is revised from the July/August 2007 issue of South Dakota Magazine. To order a copy or to subscribe, call 800-456-5117.

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A Warm Orange Glow

By Fran Hill

Yesterday, out here in south central South Dakota, we had gray clouds, wind, and snow flurries that didn’t amount to much of anything. However, by dusk snowfall was picking up and the sidewalks and streets were a little slippery. When I went to bed, there was some accumulation for the pups to run through during their last potty break, and this morning, I awoke to a full blanket of white covering the yard. Just shy of one month into spring, it looks a lot like a winter wonderland outside my window.

I really don’t dare to complain, as we need the moisture so desperately. The fairly dry winter did nothing to alleviate last summer’s drought. We are dry. The snow is wet and slow warm-ups have allowed it to soak into the pastures and fields as it melts. As much of a hassle it is to warm baby calves and bed cattle and move snow and shovel sidewalks, we appreciate the precipitation.

That isn’t to say we wouldn’t like to see the sun. A little warmth in the sky would be welcome. We don’t want or need the scorching 90+ degrees that hit on the last day of winter in 2012, but something that would allow me to put away my gloves and boots would be nice. A pleasant, balmy day. Spring without winter. A congenial orange glow to warm our faces and souls.

Meanwhile, I will have to find comfort in the orange glow of Clementine Muffins with Orange Honey Butter. Warm from the oven and sweet with the promise of honey, these muffins are perfect for waiting out the winter of our spring.

Clementine Muffins with Orange Honey Butter

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain yogurt (I actually used Greek Honey yogurt because that is what I had on hand.)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons grated clementine peel
1 1/2 cups diced clementine

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Stir together sugar, yogurt, melted butter, egg, and grated clementine peel. Gradually add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until just combined. Carefully stir in diced clementine. Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins, filling two-thirds full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Orange Honey Butter

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon orange juice
Zest of one orange (or, in this case, about 2 or 3 clementines)

Beat all ingredients together until thoroughly combined. Chill for about 10 minutes before serving.

Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their three dogs ranch near Colome.


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Say It with Chocolate

By Laura Andrews

Chocolate lovers Vickie and Mike Marotz of the Watertown Confectionery. Photo by John Andrews.

Valentine’s Day is synonymous with bouquets of flowers, sappy cards and red, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. But what if you want to keep your celebration local? South Dakota doesn’t have many bright blooms to boast of this time of year, and syrupy sentiment isn’t really our style. Luckily, three area chocolatiers can help you pay tribute to your love with handmade flair.

The folks at Mostly Chocolates have been delighting Rapid City palates for over 30 years. They are now working on the people of Pierre, where they opened up a second location in 2012. Try their chocolate roses, amaretto fudge, chocolate-covered cherry clusters — 3 big maraschino cherries dipped in milk chocolate — or sample their many other handmade chocolates. The Rapid City store also has a full espresso bar and a frozen yogurt bar with over 25 toppings available. For a special experience, gather a group of friends together for private chocolate-making classes with owner Peggy Kelly and her staff. Visit Mostly Chocolates at 1919 Mount Rushmore Road in Rapid City or 410 West Sioux Avenue #4 in Pierre.

The Watertown Confectionery covers everything from”I brew” to”I do.” Mike and Vickie Marotz’s Kemp Avenue store houses wine and beer-making facilities and an in-shop chapel for small, intimate weddings in addition to hand-dipped caramels, mint meltaways and other treats. If your sweetie has a sense of humor, hand them a South Dakota Cow Pie. Hopefully the name won’t scare them away from savoring the Marotzes’ concoction of chocolate, crushed English toffee and toasted coconut. You’ll find the Watertown Confectionery at 116 East Kemp Avenue in Watertown.

Mary”Chip” Tautkus’s Chubby Chipmunk has been receiving national attention lately — her Deadwood-made truffles were slipped into the swag bags given to performers and presenters at the Grammy and Country Music Association award ceremonies. Those with exotic tastes turn to the Chipmunk for chocolate made from Fortunato No. 4, a recently rediscovered variety of cacao plant long thought extinct. For a last-minute V-Day surprise, slide your cash in the”Chub-O-Matic” truffle vending machine next to Tautkus’s shop at 420 Cliff Street in Deadwood.

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Let Them Eat Cheesecake

By Fran Hill

Yesterday, January 23, was National Pie Day. According to the American Pie Council…oh my word, yes, there is such a thing…it was a day to raise awareness, enjoyment and consumption of pies. Events ranged from pie festivals, pie bake-offs, pie feeds, and of course, free pie. If pie is your thing, it seems January 23rd was the day to party.

If you aren’t all pie-faced over pie, hang in there. It wasn’t until I became involved in the food blogging world that I learned there is a food event or holiday for almost every day of the year. Earlier in January, there was National Fig Newton Day and a Peking Duck Day. The entire month is devoted to Bread Machine Baking Month and National Soup Month, among others.

It seems some people really need an excuse to celebrate, and I say, go for it. Why not? Why not enjoy and celebrate food? Why not have something fun and a bit silly in our otherwise serious and often stressful world? Why not let them eat pie? Or fig newtons? Or cake?

National Cheesecake Day isn’t officially celebrated until July 30, but if I were you, I wouldn’t wait that long to make Brownie Cherry Cheesecake. It is a sort of celebration all on its own. A dense, chewy, chocolaty brownie is layered with baked creamy, rich cheesecake and topped with classic sweet and tart cherries. It is a party in your mouth no matter what day it is.

Brownie Cherry Cheesecake

1 brownie mix (for 8×8 inch pan)
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup water
1 egg
(or whatever ingredients are stated on the package)

Cheesecake Layer:
2 eggs
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
2 packages cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cans cherry pie filling

Prepare brownie mix as directed on package. Spread batter in a 10″ or 12″ round springform pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, beat eggs, sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese and vanilla until creamy and smooth. When brownie layer is baked, immediately pour cheesecake filling on top. Spread carefully to edges of brownie. Bake 30-40 minutes more, or until cheesecake is set and firm. Cool for 2 hours. Top with cherry pie filling. Flavor is best when served at room temperature, but cheescake should be stored in the refrigerator. Serves 12.


Fran Hill has been blogging about food at On My Plate since October of 2006. She, her husband and their dog, Ace, reside near Colome.


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Benevolent Baking

By Laura Andrews

Philanthropy doesn’t have an age limit. Just ask Dorothy Shannon, a resident of Avera Brady Health and Rehab in Mitchell.

Shannon, an octogenarian, hasn’t let her move to assisted living stop her from sharing her skills with others. She still bakes delicious cookies and other treats, which she sells to residents, employees and visitors to the assisted living center. Proceeds from those sales go to Shannon’s favorite charities.

It takes a lot of cookies to make a difference, but Shannon’s up to the challenge. With help from Activities Coordinator Lisa Larson and other staff members, she made and sold enough treats to pay for a big television for all Avera Brady residents to enjoy.

When asked about her favorite Dorothy Shannon creation, Nola Myers, a member of Avera Brady’s activities staff, rattled off a list: butterhorn rolls, chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter balls, toffee and a popcorn cake made in an angel food pan. Shannon’s Heavenly Desserts Cookbook, created during her stay at the home, includes recipes for many of these sweets.

Shannon may be acquiring more distant fans as well. She and Larson are both avid viewers of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Larson sent a package to DeGeneres with a letter telling Shannon’s story, a copy of her cookbook, and most importantly, cookies and other treats. In return, they scored 4 free tickets to the January 15th show.

It’s a long way from Mitchell to California, but Shannon’s had help. Avera Brady sold popcorn balls for three weeks this winter to help pay for the trip. Shannon’s daughter Colleen, her granddaughter and Lisa Larson will escort her to the taping. The show will most likely air on Wednesday. Shannon’s entourage doesn’t know what Ellen has in store for them, but as one Brady staff member pointed out,”It’s not every day that an elderly nursing home resident from South Dakota gets invited to be on a national tv show.”

True enough. Have a great trip, Dorothy. We hope you and your family and friends enjoy your California adventure.

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Picture-Perfect Cookies

By Laura Andrews

Some of our most cherished holiday traditions date back to pre-Christian times. After reading in our December e-newsletter about julenek, an old Norwegian custom still practiced at Trygve Trooien’s farm near Astoria, Leah Benson of Brookings told us about her family’s favorite Christmas tradition — baking and eating springerle.

Benson has researched this ancient German Christmas cookie and teaches classes about it at medieval reenactment fairs. The origins of springerle, which means”little knight” or”jumping horse,” go back centuries to a region of Europe once known as Swabia, now part of southwestern Germany.”The legend is that back then, the peasants were so poor that they could not afford to give gifts. To celebrate the winter solstice they would carve the gift they wanted to give into a piece of dough, let it dry, and then bake it and give it to their loved one. Most of the carvings were things of nature, animals, plants, etc. because they worshipped Mother Earth at that time,” Benson said.”The dough in ancient times used hartshorn for leavening, which actually is a white powder that comes from the inside of a deer’s antler. Today of course we use baking powder.”

Benson learned about these cookies from her grandmother.”She always made these cookies with a special rolling pin that was handed down through the generations. I started collecting these rolling pins when I was forty.” Her grandmother’s recipe creates a very thick, mixer-challenging dough. Rolling the dough with a springerle rolling pin or pressing it with a carved mold creates pictures on the cookies — some more intricate than others.”Most of the modern rolling pins have basic simple nature designs, although I do have one very expensive one with the life of Christ carved into its 24 panels.”

The unbaked cookies must dry for 24 hours. This helps preserve the pictures through the baking process. The cookies bake at a low temperature for 45 minutes, resulting in a hard, pale-colored treat perfect for dunking in coffee. Many families make these at Thanksgiving and save them until Christmas. This allows the flavor to develop. Benson’s family eats them right away because they prefer a softer texture.

Springerle-Making Tips

  • Place a kitchen towel over the back of the mixer so you don’t end up with flour and powdered sugar all over the kitchen.
  • The size of the eggs will determine how much flour you need to use.
  • If you don’t have a springerle pin, roll the dough to about º thick and cut in 2″ by 1 1/2″ rectangles, then dry and bake as directed.
  • The traditional cookie is very hard — good for dunking or as teething biscuits. Rolling them thicker or baking them less will result in a softer cookie. But beware of rolling them too thick — it results in cookies that are”humped up and cracked and kind of ugly,” according to Benson.

Springerle

4 medium eggs, separated
1 lb. powdered sugar
3 cups flour with 1/4 teaspoon baking powder added
1/8 teaspoon anise oil extract, or flavoring of your choice

Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites in a large bowl until very stiff peaks form, as one would for meringue. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks about five minutes, until light and lemon colored. Add the beaten yolks to the egg whites and whip for about three minutes. Sift powdered sugar gradually into egg mixture, add anise oil, then mix flour and baking powder in slowly, until the dough is very stiff, smooth and velvety to the touch. You may need to remove the dough from the mixer and knead the last of the flour in by hand.

Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces. On a well-floured surface, roll each piece out about 3/8 inch thick using a regular rolling pin. Then, using a springerle pin, roll across the dough one last time to create imprints. Cut the cookies apart with a sharp knife. With a thin metal spatula, move the cookies onto ungreased cookie sheets, placing them close together but not touching. Cover cookies with a light kitchen towel. Allow them to dry for 12 hours, then flip over to let the underside dry for another 12 hours.

Flip cookies right side up and bake at 250 degrees for about 45 minutes. They may turn tan on the bottom, but should not brown. Store cookies for several weeks to bring out the anise flavor or enjoy right away.