Approx. 70 Calories per cookie. Recipe makes approx. 45 cookies.I was in a festive holiday mood tonight and decided to make some cookies. Since I'm afraid of my oven, that would normally be quite the challenge. Luckily, I had my handy dandy brazeli iron (also spelled bratzeli, bratzli, bretzel, brezel, etc.), so I didn't need an oven.
The recipe that mom gave me had too many ingredients and required that the dough sit overnight. I figured that I would no longer be in the mood to make cookies tomorrow, so I better strike while the iron was hot! I followed the recipe that came right on the iron, but estimated the conversions from metric to US customary measurements. I also decided to add a little bit of vanilla extract and cinnamon.
Ingredients
- 8 Tbs butter
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
- Soften butter and slowly beat in egg and sugar.
- Slowly beat in flour.
- Add cinnamon and vanilla extract and mix well.
- Let mixture sit for 2 hours.
- Ladle batter/dough (approx. size of a ping pong ball) onto center of the hot iron.
- Close the iron and press tight for approx. 1 minute, or until cookie is cooked and golden.
- Remove cookie from iron.
- Trim edges and cut into 4 sections.
- Continue cooking 4 cookies at a time until batter is gone.
29 comments:
Where did you get your iron? We have a recipe that a friend of the family made in her old brazeli iron -- after she died, some Texas collector bought it for more money than we could scrounge up. I've been wanting to make brazeli for ages. Thanks!
Yes! Please tell where you got your iron! This is one of my favorite Christmas cookies!
It's hard to find Bratzeli irons, but apparently you can use a pizzelle or krumkake iron and it works just fine. I just made my own grandmother's recipe for bratzeli using a pizzelle iron I picked up for $30! Just do a Google search for "pizzelle iron," you should find one :)
My family have been making this cookie for more then 80 years Started with my Grandfather now has passed to my Great Niece
Grüezi,
Vielen Dank für die Abkürzung, ich werde mit diesem heute.
Sie sind also Schwiiz? Das ist sehr gut.
Schöni Fäschttäg
I got mine at Roberts European Imports. It looks just like the one in your photo.
I picked up an old one in excellent condition with cloth covered electric cord and it came in original box...very old for....TWO BUCKS!!! Had no idea what it was as no directions came with it. Just found this recipe and am attempting to make them as we speak. Guess I got a good bargain.
Hi, I have been using a large cast iron swiss cookie maker that "came over on the boat" from Switzerland to America when my great grandmother moved to the US. It was made in the 1800s. We still use it and the original recipe. The iron makes 7 round cookies and has 14 different patterns. The center pattern has the Swiss flag on one side and a bear on the other side for the Canton on Bern. It has been handed down to the youngest daughter in the family for a couple of generations.
My mother took a trip to Switzerland and saw an iron like ours in a museum. Theirs was cracked, however.
Helen
We have been making bratzeli cookies in our family since my great great grandmother came from Switzerland in the 1800's. We made them every Christmas and looked at them as a Swiss Christmas cookie. I'm 70 and that's what I was brought up believing. Imagine my shock when I learned that the Swiss made them all the time. I asked my mother about it and she said that the family was so poor in Idaho that they could only afford to make them at Christmas. My great great grandmother brought over an two cookie irom that was used in a wood burning stove. We have made them in our family for 6 generations now. The best iron to use is an old Jura iron if you can find one. Our receipe is as follows: cream one pound of butter, add three cups of sugar, six eggs (one at a time) a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of vanilla, a teaspoon of cinnamon and seven cups of flour. Chill for six hours and roll into balls and cook. A variation of the receipe calls for orange rind and almond extract. You can buy irons in Switzerland today but they are 220 and you will have to buy a transformer over here or get a conversion plug and long extension cord and run it to your dryer (if it's electric). Good luck it's a great family tradition.
Richard Olson
richardolson1962@gmail.com
I have one like that as well!
I have had my iron for 50 years. My son just replaced a burned out wire under one of the grates. New Glarus Wi. is one place you can purchase them but you do need a US convertor.
I love these cookies and hope my iron continues to work for ever. Thanks Jura for making them. Bjr Madison
Preview our effort at bringing Brazeli baking into US homes at an affordable price here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1622878133/811948945?token=a2655228
Allison
Blue Ribbon Brazeli Bakery
www.brazelibakery.com
I am fortunate to have my grandmother's from Switzerland, she passed this past March at 97 years old. She made these cookies my entire 54 years and before me, it is Cast Iron and she would spend hours making these over the gas stove. I could not let this part of our heritage go to anyone else, I enjoy keeping the tradition. Unfortunately her handwritten cook book of all her most treasured recipes fell into the hands of a family member that has no intention of sharing recipes, so I thank you for this one
I Googled "bratzeli iron" and the video I posted to YouTube of my Mom cooking Bratzelis five years ago came up as the third search item. I know electric ones are available, and it looks like if you're serious about purchasing an old-fashioned iron one like ours, you can join Worthpoint.com and find some on there. Most of the ones I saw look like they haven't been used in decades! Ours gets used every December. :) Good luck if you haven't found one yet!
@Carolyn,
Robert's Imports is now Ester's Imports and have not had irons available for several years. We used to refer all our inquires for irons to Robert's in WI as we were only a bakery. That is no longer an option.
Thanks anyway,
Allison
Blue Ribbon Brazeli Bakery
Is there anywhere yo get them now?
*to
Pizzelle irons make thicker cookies than a bratzele iron does
http://mbsamcq.wixsite.com/brucesbratzelibarn
👍
As a commenter above said, our iron came over from Switzerland in 1905 when my great grands and grandfather immigrated. My grandfather inherited it and then my aunt.
She is 95 now and I pray that when she passes that one of her two sons knows enough to keep it. I remember helping to roll them when they came off the iron and sprinkling them with sugar.
Of course making them was more labor intensive than putting something on a cookie sheet and baking a batch at a time. These were one at a time with a long handled iron warmed over a gas stove. I would imagine these being heated in open fireplace. They were fragile when warm, but would harden into a nice crunch and were the best with a cuppa tea. Oh, the memories.
I recently took a trip to Switzerland with some family members. We picked up four of the jura irons. Unfortunately they no longer come with US plugs that I can find. You can rewire and change the plug if you have the know how! If you are in Switzerland and have a hard time finding them, you can order online and have them delivered to a local store and pick up right before you leave which is what we did! We did get some weird looks from airport security though ��
Bought a very old stove top iron at a thrift shop for $12. I wish I could insert a photo here
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You can buy a bratzeli iron from Bruce’s Bratzeli Barn in Monroe, WI. He gets them from Switzerland and converts them to 110 watts. They are $500. He sells a limited supply each year. You can Order one off his website. Some of the lights won’t work on the machine but they make great bratzeli’s.
Wonderful!…
Got a Bratzeli iron last year on EBay, also contacted Bruce's Bratzeli Barn. He was out of them then, but did contact me when he got some in. Meanwhile my grandson found one on Ebay, wired ready to go, received it within a week.
Can you tell me where you ordered them from?
Thankfully I have my Swiss German grandmother's Bratzeli cookie Iron, from the 1940's, so will make this Christmas
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