Anise Spingerle Euro Holiday Cookies

Elegeant molded cookies ...
Eggshell white, perfumed with anise and intricately printed using carved molds, crisp springerle have been a holiday sweet across central Europe since at least the Middle Ages, when, during mid-winter festivals, the poor offered animal-shaped biscuits to the gods in place of actual livestock. Eventually the subject matter diversified and the carvings began to reflect every aspect of life, including biblical figures and fairy tales, holiday scenes and wedding motifs, fruit and folk-art hearts.  To make these biscotti-like cookies...see recipe here.  (From WSJ)