Spekulatius

Saturday
Today has been a funny sort of a day,full of good intention ,however never really got there.
Iwant to make a new bag with the lovely fabrics I bought this week from fancymoon.co.uk but my sewing room looks like it has been burgled !(not really) it's just that I am not the tidiest of people.
When looking for something I always just pull everything out ,thinking I will put it back later..I never do!
So The day started well full of sunshine.
I wanted to get this blog up and running.I located my camera only to remember that I had lost the usb lead in the Summer. I sound like a complete air head, I do have my days.
So with my morning coffee I went online to buy a new one. That was quite easy,I found one on Amazon and will have it early next week.
However I need my camera for tomorrow and thougt i may be able to track down a card reader. Off i popped to the shops. I did buy one ..oh and a new bird table!
I went to Aldi on the way home, to get a few things. At the moment they are stocking up on Christmas goodies. I love these supermarkets at this time of year, full of German Christmas treats.

I picked up a packet of biscuits called Spekulatius. The name grabbed me first. I have seen them before but never really paid much attention. Hmm nice with a cup of tea this afternoon..In the basket they went. My daughter Laura and her partner Simon were house hunting and they were going to drop in. This was my excuse for buying them.
I arrived home put up my new bird table which is soooooooo nice, hung with fat treats, meal worms, an apple and a branch of bright red Hawthorn berries from last Sundays walk.I am hoping that now that it is colder the birds will be brave enough to try it.

The card reader did not fit the card from my camera, This made me mad as the shop wont take it back once the package is open aaarrrrgghh.
Then a text from Laura saying they were running late and couldn't make it..........Just me and the cat again. By this time the day was nearly done,dark at 4pm
With this there was nothing else to do but to make a nice cup of tea and open the Spekulatius cookies.
Little did i know what wonders were inside.
The biscuits had images of swans,old men and lions,they were old looking kind of medieval.
I sat down with my tea and 2 cookies...I'm going to have to look this up on Google the name was intriguing me.
It was fascinating here is Wkipedia:
There are several interpretations for the origins of the name Speculaas. It may derive from Latin speculum, which means mirror, and refer to the fact that the images are cut as a mirrored bas-relief into a wooden stamp which is then used to decorate the Speculaas. Another explanation of the name refers to the Latin word speculator which, among other meanings, could also refer to a bishop or St Nicholas' epithet "he who sees everything". Specerij the Dutch word for spice is another possible origin.
I then though i would like to see the wooden carved molds used to make these ancient cookies and found this remarkable site http://cookiemolds.wordpress.com.

They sell original antique molds . Indeed, one of these now has to be bought!! They are so beautiful. I then found a nice man in the States who carves replica molds www.cookiemold.com 

The molds he makes are really beautiful .I now need these cookie molds more than ever.
I then read that the history of these biscuits may go back to pagan times
The name Springerle comes from an old German dialect and means "little knight" or "jumping horse." Historians trace these cookies back to the Julfest, a midwinter celebration of pagan Germanic tribes. Julfest ceremonies included the sacrificing of animals to the gods, in hope that such offerings would bring a mild winter and an early spring. Poor people who could not afford to kill any of their animals gave token sacrifices in the form of animal-shaped breads and cookies. Vestiges of these pagan practices survive in the baking of shaped-and-stamped German Christmas cookies such as Lebkuchen, Spekulatius, Frankfurter Brenten, and Springerle. 

These are family owned molds much prized possesions.
I just have to have my own mold.I want to bake my own Christmas gifts ,how nice would that be ?

So I am now very happy to have found this on Etsy.com .
2 hours later my cup of Earl Grey is cold and my Spekulatius are still sat where i left them. I am off now to make a nice hot fresh cup of tea and enjoy my cookies.
I am looking forward to buying my mold.Will post results of that special baking session .