Jefferson City, MO -- Frohe Weihnachten! (Merry Christmas!) Deutschheim State Historic Site will celebrate the holidays with a special exhibit of antique hand-carved Springerle cookie molds during December.

The exhibit, on temporary loan from Hermann resident Linda Walker Stevens, features her collection, including a remarkably detailed double-sided mold from the 18th century. Also featured is a child’s Springerle rolling pin and 19th-century molds depicting various motifs. For the past three decades, Stevens baked Springerle for the site’s annual Weihnachtsfest open house. This is the first time this collection has been on display and visitors can view the items at the historic site’s visitor center.

Springerle will again be featured during site’s celebration over the first two weekends in December, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Replica molds are available for sale in the gift shop, as well as flavoring oils and the traditional hartshorn leavening agent.

In Germany’s the southern region, anise-flavored Springerle cookies are a time-honored tradition. The carved motifs reflected the interests of people at the time and were used to tell stories because the majority of the population could not read. Religious subjects were especially common and the large cookies were given as gifts or love tokens. Smaller Springerle cookies, or kuchen, became readily available from bakeries in the early 19th century when sugar and other ingredients became less expensive.

The Deutschheim State Historic Site visitor center is located at 101 W. Second St. in Hermann. There is no admission fee for the event and exhibits sponsored by Missouri State Parks and Deutschheim Verein. For further information, call 573-486-2200.

For more information on state parks and historic sites, visit mostateparks.com. Missouri State Parks is a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.