Beat the eggs well until the mixture turns into an airy crème. (About 6 minutes using a KitchenAid™ 5qt. stand mixer with the wire whisk attachment.) Immediately, with the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar by ½ cups until all sugar is incorporated and mixture is fluffy. Add the flavoring oil while mixer is on low speed.

Immediately switch to the flat paddle attachment and gradually beat in ¾ of the flour on low speed. For hand mixers,knead in the last quarter of the flour by hand or use the bread hook attachment. For stand mixers, beat in the last 1/4 of flour with the paddle attachment. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes to two hours covered on the dough surface with plastic wrap, or cover the top of the bowl with a dish damp dish towel. You need to keep the dough covered to prevent drying on the surface.

Note: In low humidity conditions, do not knead in all the flour. Reserve about a cup. Let the dough rest 30 minutes to two hours. During that time, the flour in the dough will continue to absorb the liquid. You may find that you don’t need to add the cup you reserved.

In humid conditions, you may need to add more flour. If your dough droops quickly off the paddle attachment and is very shiny, you can add more flour (maybe a 1/2 cup) before resting. But when in doubt, let the dough rest 30 minutes first.

After resting, if the dough is still saggy/droopy knead in more flour. You want it at a consistency that just holds its shape while still being form-able. It should have the softness of a firm pillow. You can knead in the flour during Step 4, one dough part at a time.

Divide the Springerle dough, which still will be sticky, into six parts. Cover the bowl with a damp towel to keep the dough parts moist. Take out one piece and knead in just enough flour so that it is slightly sticky. Roll out on a well floured surface so that it is 8 mm thick using dough guides or about 3/8". Lightly dust the rolled dough with flour so that the dough feels like silk. Dust your Springerle mold with flour using a pastry brush. Now press the very finely dusted mold evenly into the dough until the mold cavity is filled, and remove. Cut out the molded dough with a suitable pastry cutter or a knife and place on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper.

Next, dry only the top surface of the cookies at room temperature, either on your cookie sheets or on parchment. Do not dry them on a baking rack! You do not want to dry underside of the cookies--you need the bottom moist in order to develop a foot (rise) while baking. Drying time is typically 8-12 hours at room temperature, 24-36 hours for very humid conditions, thick or large diameter cookies. Never refrigerate the cookies while drying; you need room temperature to evaporate the moisture on the top of the cookies.

To minimize sticking for your small- and medium-size cookies: five minutes before baking, turn the cookies over and dust the bottoms generously with flour. Then turn them back over with the design facing up and slide them around a little bit on your parchment. Do not do this with giant cookies--you risk breaking them.

Bake the Springerle one baking sheet at a time at approx. 300ºF on the very bottom rack of the oven. Put like-sized cookies on the same sheet.

Small cookies (2.5" dia.) can be done in 10-14 minutes at 300°F while larger cookies may take 14-20 minutes and are best baked at 285°F. Giant cookies (10-14 inches in diameter) will take 30-60 minutes and are baked at approx. 260ºF.

Cookies are done when the bottoms are a light golden brown. When baking these cookies for the first time, bake just a few on a baking sheet and check often to see how long your cookies take to finish. Everyone’s oven is different. We suggest you get yourself an oven thermometer if you don't have one.