Berner Brezeli

I posted this recipe on request. You need a special iron for this. Brezeli is a Swiss speciality and this particular recipes comes from Bern, the capital. Since I don't have a Brezeli iron (it is quite expensive!), I havn't tried it. I found it on a German Forum where a Swiss girl was looking for Brezeli recipes. I first tried to convert the recipe into cups, but it's slightly more complex than I thought. However, you may use www.recipes4us.co.uk/us_cups_to_weight.htm to convert it if you don't have a scale. The recipe doesn't say anything of buttering the iron. So try the first four without buttering/oiling and see how it works. If it sticks, use melted butter or oil every time. The preparation time is a guess. I also haven't got a clue how many cookies it will yield and I filled in 8 servings because you need to fill in something.

• Ready In: 1 hr 30 mins
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 250  g butter (soft)
• 250  g caster sugar
• 1  pinch salt
• 1  lemon, zest of, only
• 4  eggs
• 500  g flour

Directions

1. Whip butter, sugar, salt and lemon zest until frothy.
2. Mix in the flour and knead until you have a nice dough.
3. Leave to rest for at least 1/2 hour.
4. Form rolls of the thickness of a finger.
5. Cut rolls intos small pieces and form balls of the thickness of a hazelnut.
6. Put 4 balls on the ornaments of the iron.
7. Close iron with care.
8. Slightly press iron while brezeli are baking.
9. Keep in a metallic box.