springerle


spring·er·le

S5732550 (shprĭng′ər-lə)pl.n. Hard, anise-flavored cookies of German origin that are embossed with a design prior to baking, traditionally eaten at Christmas.
[German Springerle, from German dialectal (southern Germany, Austria, and Alsace), from diminutive of Springer, jumper, jumping horse, knight (from the figures of knights and leaping horses often embossed on the cookies or from the traditional use of ammonium carbonate to leaven the dough so that the designs spring up ), from springen, to jump; akin to Old English springan, to spring.]