Aachener Printen

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Digital scale
• •Heavy saucepan
• •Large mixing bowl or stand mixer with dough hook
• •Rolling pin
• •Ruler and pastry wheel or sharp knife
• •Two baking sheets
• •Wire rack
• •Metal cookie tin

Instructions

1. 1

   Warm the syrup

   Put the Rübenkraut, brown sugar, butter, and 50ml water in a heavy saucepan and warm it gently until the butter melts and the sugar loosens. Do not boil it; boiling drives off water and leaves you with a dry, bitter dough. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the crushed Kandis briefly, and leave some crystals whole because that small bite is part of Aachen's Printen.

   Use Rübenkraut, not molasses and not honey. Molasses tastes too sharp here, and honey pulls the biscuit toward another branch of Lebkuchen.
2. 2

   Mix the dough

   Mix the flour, Orangeat, Zitronat, spices, and salt in a large bowl. Dissolve the Pottasche fully in the cold water before it goes in; dry grains leave soapy pockets, and that is not a regional style, it is a mistake. Pour in the warm syrup mixture and work everything into a stiff dough with a spoon, dough hook, or your hands. It should feel too firm now, because the syrup will relax it while it rests.

3. 3

   Rest overnight

   Flatten the dough into a thick slab, wrap it well, and refrigerate it at least 24 hours, up to 3 days. The rest lets the flour take the syrup evenly, softens the candied peel into the dough, and gives the spices time to stop tasting raw. Fresh dough tears and bakes with hard edges. Das braucht seine Zeit.

4. 4

   Roll and cut

   Let the dough stand at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes so it rolls without cracking. Roll it on a lightly floured board to 6mm thick, then cut rectangles about 3 by 8cm with a knife, ruler, or pastry wheel. Keep the thickness even because thin corners burn before the middle is baked. Press the split almonds into the tops, firmly enough that they stay put when the dough rises slightly.

5. 5

   Bake firm

   Heat the oven to 180C, or 160C fan, and line two baking sheets with parchment. Bake the Printen for 10 to 12 minutes, until the tops are dry, the edges are set, and the undersides are deep chestnut. Pull them before they feel fully hard; they finish firming as they cool. If the edges darken too quickly, runter mit der Temperatur, because beet syrup burns before flour tastes baked.

6. 6

   Brush and cool

   Brush the warm Printen lightly with the thin Rübenkraut glaze, just enough to give the surface a dark shine. A heavy glaze stays sticky in the tin, and sticky is not the same as moist. Move them to a rack and let them cool completely, because closed warm biscuits wet their own surface and lose the clean bite.

7. 7

   Age in tin

   Pack the cold Printen into a metal tin and leave them 4 to 7 days before serving. This is not storage after the recipe; this is part of the recipe. The beet syrup draws moisture through the crumb, the spice settles, and the biscuit changes from hard to properly firm. For a softer tin, add a slice of apple or a piece of rye bread for 12 hours, then remove it. Leave fruit in there longer and you've made a mold problem, not a Christmas biscuit.

Chef Tips

• •Crush the Kandis in a folded towel with a rolling pin. You want small chips, not powder, because the little sugar pieces give Printen their Aachen bite.
• •Pottasche is the right leavener for this dough because it spreads through a dense syrup dough and opens it without making it cakey. If you cannot get it, use 1 level teaspoon baking soda and accept a slightly different crumb.
• •Do not judge the spice on the first day. A fresh Printen tastes sharp and closed; after several days in the tin, the syrup and spice have found each other.
• •Trim the rectangles cleanly, then press the scraps together and roll again. Weggeworfen wird nichts, and the second roll still bakes well if you do not bury it in flour.
• •Serve with black coffee, tea, or a small glass of Printen liqueur if Aachen has followed you home. Milk is for children and for cooks who overbaked the first tray.

Advance Preparation

• •The dough can be made 1 to 3 days ahead and kept wrapped in the refrigerator; the longer rest makes rolling easier and the spice rounder.
• •Bake the Printen 4 to 14 days before serving. They are built for the Advent tin, and the texture improves while they wait.
• •Stored in a dry metal tin, they keep for 4 weeks. If you soften them with apple or bread, remove it after 12 hours and check the tin the next day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 30g)