Aachener Printen

A blockade took the honey away, so the sweetener is sugar-beet syrup and it stayed that way.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (butter), dairy (milk).

Ingredients

• 400 g sugar beet syrup
• 100 g dark brown sugar
• 60 g butter
• 250 g rye flour
• 250 g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground aniseed
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons potash or baking powder
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 100 g candied orange peel, chopped fine

Method

1. A BLOCKADE TOOK THE HONEY AWAY, SO THE SWEETENER IS SUGAR-BEET SYRUP AND IT STAYED THAT WAY. The article gives the whole sequence: they were ORIGINALLY SWEETENED WITH HONEY, NOWADAYS SWEETENED WITH THE SYRUP FROM SUGAR BEETS, because honey BECAME TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE WHEN NAPOLEON ISSUED A TRADE EMBARGO -- and THE TRADITION OF SWEETENING WITH SUGAR BEETS WAS KEPT EVEN AFTER NAPOLEON WAS DEFEATED.
2. SO THE SUBSTITUTE BECAME THE RECIPE, which is the whole point of the page. Beet syrup is darker and more bitter than honey and it sets harder, which is why these are biscuits you can post rather than cakes you must eat fresh. The article says as much: the ROBUST COOKIES ARE IDEAL AS TRAVEL PROVISIONS.
3. THE DOUGH IS ROLLED OVER THE MOULD, NOT PRESSED INTO IT. Earlier bakers PRESSED a soft dough INTO ELABORATELY CARVED BAKING MOLDS; the article credits a baker named Henry Lambertz with ROLLING OUT THE DOUGH OVER RAISED MOLDS instead, which is what let them be made in quantity. A rolling pin over a raised pattern, rather than a thumb into a hollow one.
4. THE SPICES ARE A SECRET AND THE ARTICLE SAYS SO. It lists CINNAMON, ANISEED, CLOVE, CARDAMOM, CORIANDER, ALLSPICE AND ALSO GINGER, then states that THE EXACT MIXTURE OF THESE INGREDIENTS IS A CLOSE KEPT SECRET OF THE INDIVIDUAL PRINTEN BAKERIES. The seven are theirs; the proportions below are mine.
5. AND THE NAME IS A LEGAL BOUNDARY. The term is A PROTECTED GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION, MEANING THAT ALL MANUFACTURERS MUST BE LOCATED IN OR NEAR AACHEN. What you make at home is the recipe, not the thing with the name on it.
6. WARM THE SYRUP, SUGAR AND BUTTER TOGETHER AND COOL THEM COMPLETELY. Hot syrup on flour cooks the starch and the biscuit goes hard rather than firm.
7. MIX A VERY STIFF DOUGH AND LEAVE IT OVERNIGHT, covered, somewhere cool. It is too dry to handle at first and comes together as it stands.
8. THE RAISING AGENT GOES IN AT THE END. Potash slaked in the milk, worked through the rested dough just before rolling, or baking powder in its place.
9. ROLL IT A CENTIMETRE THICK AND CUT IT INTO FINGERS. Thin ones snap; the thickness is what makes them chewy.
10. A HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DEGREES FOR TWELVE MINUTES, no more. They firm as they cool and go stony if overbaked. Lebkuchen, as on its own page, is the wider family these belong to, and it keeps its honey.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes