The resurrection is beautiful. And she has taste. If you bite carefully into the protein-white character, a hint of anise spreads on the palate. The winged creature, posing upright with a halo on a lamb, the apron full of fruit, unfortunately it “crumbs” on the occasion. Therefore, for many, simply eating this filigree pastry is out of the question.
Not too many people understand how to make such a piece of jewelry from the almost-forgotten craftsmanship genre. Katharina Ratzinger is one of them. Qua birth one must say. The business administration graduate comes from the old Munich bakery dynasty Schmidt with its parent company on Steinstrasse. “Springerle” have always been part of the business. Or “Lebzelter”, as they are also called in Bavaria, derived from “baked body” or “life”.
Small pictures from the Biedermeier period around 1820 serve as templates for the very finely cut models.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
When Katharina Ratzinger has finished baking, the Springerl wait to cool down and pack.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
The guild named after it was first mentioned in Munich in 1473. For the decorative “egg marzipan” the old masters usually used carved forms made of hard fruit wood or boxwood. Katharina Ratzinger’s family has been collecting this model for generations. “The oldest are 400 years old and still work.” The 52-year-old’s enthusiasm for the treasures has never diminished. She guards around 2000 motifs. Below is a sun from around 1740, a Biedermeier gallery of tiny motifs, the heart heavy with grapes from 1803.
The 52-year-old uses it to shape the dough piece by piece in her small bakery on the southern outskirts of the city (www.springerle.de). The biscuits are also sold in the neighborhood, the Reis pavilion (www.reis-solln.de) at Wolfratshauser Straße 224.
Off to the oven: Katharina Ratzinger completes the craftsmanship.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
Many only know the art of Lebzelter from the Advent season, as a Christmas decoration on the Christmas tree or as a cultivated snack with Christmas tea. Unless a pandemic is raging, Katharina Ratzinger also sells her range at the Christmas market on Marienplatz. “In the past, when there was no chocolate, no sugar, no gummy bears, Springerl were the pastry for the whole year.” The traditional baker warns against false shyness: “The dough was used to shape something with a symbol and the children were then allowed to eat it”: hearts for the mother, Fatschenkindl for birth, ABC for the start of school. In the Middle Ages, monastery monks sweetened Easter with home-made delicacies after Lent.
The Springerl with motifs related to Palm Sunday show attributes such as donkey, palm branch, crown of thorns and flowers in the apron.
(Photo: Catherine Hess)
For the feast of Christ’s resurrection, Katharina Ratzinger has once again taken her Easter pictures out of the treasure chest. Her favorite model comes from the middle of the 19th century: the three rabbits arranged in a circle, which can also be found in the late Gothic cloister of Paderborn Cathedral, and whose only three ears connect in the middle to form the “God’s Eye”, the symbol of the trinity. The resurrection character is also being used again, as is the entry of Jesus on the donkey on Palm Sunday.
Tradition in the fourth generation: Katharina Ratzinger, baker from Springerle.
(Photo: Katharina Ratzinger/oh)
It takes a lot of patience for the pastry made of flour, sugar, egg and whole aniseed to succeed: before the dough can even be gently pressed into the model’s motif, it needs to rest for two hours. And then you shouldn’t disturb it for a day or two, better: because the dough has to dry in the air and become firm so that it doesn’t run later. In the oven, only the moist underside swells up and cracks – hence the springerle – and forms a so-called little foot. The resurrection of Christ thus remains razor sharp.
Katharina Ratzinger’s Springerl recipe:
2 large eggs (100 grams), 250 grams of powdered sugar, 250 grams flour type 405, some baking powder or deer horn salt, whole aniseed for sprinkling the tray
Beat the eggs with the sugar until fluffy. Mix the baking powder / deer horn salt into the flour. Then carefully fold the flour into the egg mixture until a soft dough forms. After the resting time (at least two hours), take a small part of the dough and roll it out thinly.
Then emboss the dough with the model, i.e. press it gently into the motif and then carefully remove it from the mold and cut it with a sharp knife. Place the embossed pieces of dough on a lightly greased baking sheet sprinkled with aniseed. After a day or two of resting time, bake the cookies for about ten minutes at 180°C bottom heat.
After cooling down, the Lebzelter can be stored in cans for about six months.