Ferdinand Benedictine sisters explain the work of their monastery bakery and demonstrate the time-intensive procedure for baking their specialty cookies.

For years, dating back to the late 19th century, the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand, Indiana, baked springerle cookies as part of their Christmas celebration at the monastery. Today, they offer this traditional German holiday treat to the public, along with four other varieties of cookies, from Simply Divine, their monastery bakery.

The anise-flavored springerles, almerles (an almond-flavored counterpart), Hildegard cookies, and Buttermint cookies have all received the Indiana Artisan designation from the state, which recognizes high quality art, crafts, and food products made in Indiana.

The sister-bakers are artisans of the monastery, who are living out the words of St. Benedict: Then are they truly monastics when they live by the labor of their hands.

This video below demonstrates the process that the sisters use for baking almerle cookies, which is similar to the baking method for springerles. It was produced for the Indiana Artisan program by Traditional Arts Indiana, a partnership of Indiana University and the Indiana Arts Commission, which documents and promotes Indiana's traditional arts and artists.