Thanks for this recipe! Having dabbled in making various German biscuits around Christmastime in previous years, I think I'll have a go at these next year (probably a bit too soon for this). For those in the UK the German Deli (https://germandeli.co.uk/) has those special ingredients covered.
Yeah! I have both Potash left over from the gingerbread that has been aging for a month in basement and bakers ammonia left over from the amazing springerle, both thanks to my German Baking cookbook! And guess what, our local german butcher has beet sryrup which my darling husband picked up for me today, so I am good to go to try my hand at Printen. I am curious what else I can use beet syrup for? Thank you for removing the paywall for your newsletter. I truly appreciate that I am not going to miss any recipe. Your cabbage strudel is my new favorite food, and my friends love it when I make them pretzels. I can't wait dive into Classic German Cooking later this month during Christmas break. Thank you!
These sound glorious! I grew up in a state that had (in the past) a big sugar beet growing and processing industry—but I’m not familiar with the syrup.
Luisa, I love receiving your emails mostly because I have a background unlike so many other Americans. M y father was in the US Army and we were stationed in Germany during the latter 40's and into the 50's so I was able to see a lot of Germany right after the war and thereafter. When we first went over, it was to Bamberg and we stayed in a hotel there. I wish I knew the name of it but I don't. I do remember that there was a horrible disease going around among children sso my parents were extremely careful of where we ate our meals. I remember eating in the hotel dining room and also at a train station which was nearby. And I did get to go to school by walking with others like myself both to and from it. We lived there for a while and eventually got into a building with several floors to it, and each floor had 1 apartment. I also remember living near a park that had a little bridge that went over some kind of water feature and led to a beautiful, large, I believe Catholic Church and I'd spend some times going there. For some reason I don't remember my parents ever telling me to not go places by myself and I never felt frightened by German people I met. I will tell you that from my pictures of me back then I had long pigtails and bangs and people probably thought I was a German girl.
On our second tour we were assigned to Gelnhausen, which isn't far from Hanau and Frankfurt. (Back in our first deployment I had a sister, Nicki, born in Nuremberg. This time I had a brother born in Frankfurt in 1952.) In Gelnhausen we were assigned a duplex which apparently belonged to the mayor of Gelnhausen. In the other half was another American soldier's family who had a little girl my age named Peggy. I remember the house had holes in the front of it where bullets had hit. The house was across the street from a taxi cab stand, and next door to the tank battalion on base. The base was called the Coleman Kaserne and that's where my father worked. We had large windowsills in our kitchen and if we were up early enough, we couldst on them and watch as Dad and his young soldiers marched by, always having a song they sang as they ran. It was so neat. Most would give us a big cheer as they went by.
Our house was next door to homes belonging to German people and there was a small bakery nearby. Mom used to send me there for "wolf Brotchen" and the baker always gave me 13 and only 12 made it to the house.
This is where I learned to play the accordion! Oh, how proper to learn such a beautiful instrument. My lessons were given at a shop in downtown Gelnhausen near the Catholic Church in the center square. I usually went on Saturday mornings for lessons and got to use the instruments there since it would have been too hard for me (just a skinny girl) to carry a 120-bass accordion all the way into town. I do remember that somewhere on my way there I past what they called a sanitorium, some kind of a Heath facility. I never got to the point where I could play the "Flight of the Bumble Bee" but I was fine with not knowing how. I never continued my lessons once back in the US.
Luisa, I'm 82 years old now and my parents are, of course, both deceased. When I got married I told my husband that I wanted him to take me back there so I could visit places where I grew up, But that never happened. Still, to this day, I wish I were able to do so. But I guess I'll just have to continue living those days and dreams in my head. I loved living there,
I'll tell you a little secret. When you're an American dependent and you return to the States, something seems to happen that makes you different than all the other kids. I belong to several sites relating to military dependents and they all say the same thing. We aren't as accepted into the school's groups like regular kids. There's some sort of stigma attached to us that we can't seem to define. I only know that my growing up over there gave me a love of the people and culture of Germany that many others may not have. We were loved while there and it was a most beautiful experience for me. We are not the "rich Americans" that the world seems to think of us. Yes, we have a lot of rich people. But then too we have the homeless and the destitute, just like everywhere else. We're a strong people but have a soft side also. We care what happens to others and try to help when we can. And I never saw the trash and filth like we have here. But I don't know what it's like over there today with so many illegals getting in. I got to see the beautiful Germany before they arrived. The same with England and Scotland. We visited there over 20 years ago before all the Illegals started coming there. It seems like so much is lost when ever any of these foreigners arrive on any of your shores, especially in the beauty of it all.
Thank you so much for the speedy correction and for the recipe. I made them today and they are delightful.
I did not look at the recipe carefully before I ordered ingredients and purchased a 450 g tub of the sugar beet syrup. I filled out the remaining 50 g with a barley malt syrup that was lingering on my shelf (it seemed to have the closest flavor profile. I will be more careful next time but if anyone makes a similar mistake…
Thanks so much for this recipe! I was on my way to Tübingen when I received the email with the correction so I decided to pick up ingredients there and try it when I returned home to the U.S., which I did. I made a half recipe to start. The flavor was great and they looked like I expected, but they were hard as a rock on biting in. What went wrong? I tasted some delicious Printen from the Stuttgart Christmas Market when I was in Germany that were much softer than mine. Any ideas about what might make them harder than they should be?
No worries! Thank you for the speedy correction, Luisa!
Wow, not a baker, here. But potash is at least less scary-sounding than baker's ammonia! xo
Ha! Baking is dangerous business. xxx
Thanks for this recipe! Having dabbled in making various German biscuits around Christmastime in previous years, I think I'll have a go at these next year (probably a bit too soon for this). For those in the UK the German Deli (https://germandeli.co.uk/) has those special ingredients covered.
Thanks, Mark!
Yeah! I have both Potash left over from the gingerbread that has been aging for a month in basement and bakers ammonia left over from the amazing springerle, both thanks to my German Baking cookbook! And guess what, our local german butcher has beet sryrup which my darling husband picked up for me today, so I am good to go to try my hand at Printen. I am curious what else I can use beet syrup for? Thank you for removing the paywall for your newsletter. I truly appreciate that I am not going to miss any recipe. Your cabbage strudel is my new favorite food, and my friends love it when I make them pretzels. I can't wait dive into Classic German Cooking later this month during Christmas break. Thank you!
Germans like putting the syrup on buttered bread for breakfast! You can also use it to sweeten oatmeal or put on pancakes.
I LOVE that cabbage strudel, it's such a gem! Hope you love CGC too.
These sound glorious! I grew up in a state that had (in the past) a big sugar beet growing and processing industry—but I’m not familiar with the syrup.
Luisa, I love receiving your emails mostly because I have a background unlike so many other Americans. M y father was in the US Army and we were stationed in Germany during the latter 40's and into the 50's so I was able to see a lot of Germany right after the war and thereafter. When we first went over, it was to Bamberg and we stayed in a hotel there. I wish I knew the name of it but I don't. I do remember that there was a horrible disease going around among children sso my parents were extremely careful of where we ate our meals. I remember eating in the hotel dining room and also at a train station which was nearby. And I did get to go to school by walking with others like myself both to and from it. We lived there for a while and eventually got into a building with several floors to it, and each floor had 1 apartment. I also remember living near a park that had a little bridge that went over some kind of water feature and led to a beautiful, large, I believe Catholic Church and I'd spend some times going there. For some reason I don't remember my parents ever telling me to not go places by myself and I never felt frightened by German people I met. I will tell you that from my pictures of me back then I had long pigtails and bangs and people probably thought I was a German girl.
On our second tour we were assigned to Gelnhausen, which isn't far from Hanau and Frankfurt. (Back in our first deployment I had a sister, Nicki, born in Nuremberg. This time I had a brother born in Frankfurt in 1952.) In Gelnhausen we were assigned a duplex which apparently belonged to the mayor of Gelnhausen. In the other half was another American soldier's family who had a little girl my age named Peggy. I remember the house had holes in the front of it where bullets had hit. The house was across the street from a taxi cab stand, and next door to the tank battalion on base. The base was called the Coleman Kaserne and that's where my father worked. We had large windowsills in our kitchen and if we were up early enough, we couldst on them and watch as Dad and his young soldiers marched by, always having a song they sang as they ran. It was so neat. Most would give us a big cheer as they went by.
Our house was next door to homes belonging to German people and there was a small bakery nearby. Mom used to send me there for "wolf Brotchen" and the baker always gave me 13 and only 12 made it to the house.
This is where I learned to play the accordion! Oh, how proper to learn such a beautiful instrument. My lessons were given at a shop in downtown Gelnhausen near the Catholic Church in the center square. I usually went on Saturday mornings for lessons and got to use the instruments there since it would have been too hard for me (just a skinny girl) to carry a 120-bass accordion all the way into town. I do remember that somewhere on my way there I past what they called a sanitorium, some kind of a Heath facility. I never got to the point where I could play the "Flight of the Bumble Bee" but I was fine with not knowing how. I never continued my lessons once back in the US.
Luisa, I'm 82 years old now and my parents are, of course, both deceased. When I got married I told my husband that I wanted him to take me back there so I could visit places where I grew up, But that never happened. Still, to this day, I wish I were able to do so. But I guess I'll just have to continue living those days and dreams in my head. I loved living there,
I'll tell you a little secret. When you're an American dependent and you return to the States, something seems to happen that makes you different than all the other kids. I belong to several sites relating to military dependents and they all say the same thing. We aren't as accepted into the school's groups like regular kids. There's some sort of stigma attached to us that we can't seem to define. I only know that my growing up over there gave me a love of the people and culture of Germany that many others may not have. We were loved while there and it was a most beautiful experience for me. We are not the "rich Americans" that the world seems to think of us. Yes, we have a lot of rich people. But then too we have the homeless and the destitute, just like everywhere else. We're a strong people but have a soft side also. We care what happens to others and try to help when we can. And I never saw the trash and filth like we have here. But I don't know what it's like over there today with so many illegals getting in. I got to see the beautiful Germany before they arrived. The same with England and Scotland. We visited there over 20 years ago before all the Illegals started coming there. It seems like so much is lost when ever any of these foreigners arrive on any of your shores, especially in the beauty of it all.
Thank you so much for the speedy correction and for the recipe. I made them today and they are delightful.
I did not look at the recipe carefully before I ordered ingredients and purchased a 450 g tub of the sugar beet syrup. I filled out the remaining 50 g with a barley malt syrup that was lingering on my shelf (it seemed to have the closest flavor profile. I will be more careful next time but if anyone makes a similar mistake…
Good sub!
Thanks so much for this recipe! I was on my way to Tübingen when I received the email with the correction so I decided to pick up ingredients there and try it when I returned home to the U.S., which I did. I made a half recipe to start. The flavor was great and they looked like I expected, but they were hard as a rock on biting in. What went wrong? I tasted some delicious Printen from the Stuttgart Christmas Market when I was in Germany that were much softer than mine. Any ideas about what might make them harder than they should be?