Name: Appenzeller Biberli (Filled “Beavers” from Appenzell)
Yield: Makes about 50 cookies
Cuisine: Swiss
Ingredients: ½ cup sugar, plus more if needed for rolling; ½ cup honey; ¼ cup molasses; ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg; ¼ teaspoon ground ginger; ½ teaspoon ground cloves; ⅓ cup sugar; 2 tablespoons kirsch; Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon; 2 tablespoons water; 1 teaspoon ground coriander; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; ½ teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 2½ cups all-purpose flour; 4 ounces (about 1 cup) Whole blanched almonds

Preparation info

Makes about
50
cookies

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Cookies Unlimited

By Nick Malgieri

Published 2000

About

These spicy cookies are filled with a sweet almond paste filling. Though they are available in a variety of different shapes in Switzerland—some are filled disks, or large rectangles—these are probably their most common form, a filled cylinder cut into fat trapezoid shapes. Biberli means “little beavers” and Appenzell is the little canton in northeastern Switzerland that is the butt of hundreds of Swiss German jokes.