Chräbeli

Anisguetzli · Swiss Anise Cookies

Crisp anise cookies left to dry overnight, so they bake up white on top with little "feet" underneath. Lovely with a cup of coffee or tea.

A specialty of Baden, Aargau

From the kitchen ofSylvia Brunner Reichen

From the Valley EchoWinter 2016/2017 and Winter 2022/2023

Zutaten

Ingredients

Menge · Makes

1batch

Makes about 100 cookies

500 g powdered sugar
5 eggs
2 tbsp anise seed
about 500 g flour, or a little more

Tick off ingredients as you go.

Nährwerte

Nutrition · per cookie

Energy	175 kJ / 41 kcal
Fat	0 g
of which saturates	0 g
Carbohydrate	8.6 g
of which sugars	5 g
Fibre	0 g
Protein	0.9 g
Salt	0 g

Estimate for the original amounts, per cookie. Salt added to taste is not included. Calculated from the Swiss Food Composition Database (V7.1, FSVO).

Zubereitung

Directions

1
Beat the sugar and eggs until fluffy and the sugar has dissolved, then add the anise.
2
Sift in the flour and knead lightly until the dough holds together.
3
Roll out about 1 cm thick and cut out shapes, or roll into ropes about 1.5 cm thick and cut into 5 cm pieces. Make about 3 slanted cuts in each piece and bend it slightly.
4
Place on a buttered and floured baking sheet and let dry overnight in a slightly warm place.
5
The next day, bake at low heat, about 140 °C, for about 12 minutes. They should stay white on top and have little feet underneath.

“An old recipe from my mother. These are my favorite cookies.”
From the kitchen of Sylvia Brunner Reichen

En Guete!

Bon appétit · Buon appetito · Bun appetit · Enjoy your meal

First published in the Arizona Swiss Society's Valley Echo newsletter, Winter 2016/2017 and Winter 2022/2023.

A bit of history

Geschichte

Where Chräbeli comes from, gathered from reliable sources such as the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland inventory.

Chräbeli belong to Switzerland's large family of anise biscuits, whose pale doughs were originally a substitute for costly marzipan. Their origin is obscure: Swiss baked-goods researcher Max Währen believed they were first mentioned in a description of a trip to Baden around 1710. Probably the oldest picture of a Chräbeli, from around 1860, is by Ernst Ludwig Rochholz, an Aarau teacher interested in folklore. According to the Fremdenblatt von Baden of 1939, whole cartloads of Badener Chräbeli went out into the world in the 19th century, with more than 25 bakeries in the spa town producing them day and night.

Sources