Around here I could probably find them in the Polish meat market.

ETA: in addition to their meats, they have a section of imported and specialty goods. :)

I've seen mini crackers -- round, plain ones similar to the Carr's Table Water crackers but the size of a quarter or little larger. I searched Amazon and didn't see them there and I'm not sure if Carr's makes them or someone else.

Not sure where you are located, but this page has a couple of options. Looks like the one I'm thinking of is a store brand here, but maybe one of these will have something simialr where you are.

https://www.heb.com/search/?q=water+crackers

Here is what you need -- from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Back-Oblaten-Round-Wafers-Papers/dp/B00QTWEZO0/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1545508276&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=70mm+oblaten+wafers&psc=1

When in doubt, always try Amazon! If they don't have it, it most likely no longer exists!

You can also use rice paper wrappers if you are doing squares or rectangles. You might also be able to find something similar at Michaels or Hobby Lobby in the Wilton products.

Parchment paper?

I was thinking parchment, too.

Parchment might not go down so easy.

Just called my mom, she gets them at the German butcher but that doesn’t help you any.

The Oblaten wafers do more than prevent sticking and burning. They stabilize the cookies and actually become part of it. They are more rigid than most rice paper. Rice paper is mostly used in edible design work. It is generally not stable enough for use as a cookie base.

After following all these leads, it looks like it's something I'll have to do without. They are available online but even at 100 count it's not something that I would be able to use up. I've not found a local source anywhere here. But thanks for all your suggestions. I know that when I was young I used to see them at the groceries all the time - must be no-one uses them anymore.

Could they be made? Looks like they are just mostly flour.

Would a church sell you just a few that have yet to be consecrated?

https://www.amazon.com/Wafer-Papers-Baking-round-papers/dp/B000LQL9R6/ref=pd_aw_sbs_325_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000LQL9R6&pd_rd_r=412d62d3-06c8-11e9-b9d9-4f4b1c07cd3e&pd_rd_w=wENs6&pd_rd_wg=DXqL7&pf_rd_p=926ebe02-3236-40c6-ac63-01ad178f498a&pf_rd_r=VYXZ765VQYG7S972W3TG&psc=1&refRID=VYXZ765VQYG7S972W3TG

For $6.35 including shipping (if Prime member) I’d just buy online and if I don’t use 100, save the rest for next year.

Do you know if you have any monasteries/cloistered convents in your area? That's a very common income stream for them and a local group might be willing to sell you just a few.

Do the wafers bond with the macaroons during baking?

Because parchment would not.

I bake all my cookies on parchment - never any sticking.

I know i trouble finding puff pastry in my grocery stores. I go to a cake shop that sells all things related to baking cakes and cookies. You might want to see if you have one in your area.

I used to order oblaten from germandeli.com, but they seem to have gone out of business. I found a DIY recipe on youtube, haven't tried it yet though. It looks pretty easy and doable and the comments are positive.

Do the wafers bond with the macaroons during baking?

Yes Carol. They do the same with soft gingerbread cookies or Lebkuchen, honey cakes and the like.

If you want to replicate your MIL's baked goods you need to use the wafers. 100 is not that many. Most recipes make at least 2 dozen of something or often 3 dozen. One hundred wafers is only 4 smaller batches. Plus most boxes have some breakage since the wafers are thin. Plus they can be used with just about any sticky drop cookies.

Carol - they’re intended to bond doesn’t have much taste but it’s a defining part of the cookie IMO.

I agree with watchme that 100 is not a lot, and I know my mom keeps extras from year to year. I know because we used to sneak them to play church.

You could freeze the rest to use next year

Just watched the video that kadefol posted and it struck me as a lot of ingredients, so I looked at the ingredients on Amazon and saw only flour and starch. More interestingly the label says it keeps the inside tender, outside crisp, and helps it keep fresher tasting longer. So there’s the “why” according to them.

Wow, never heard of that! Interesting!

Food, I agree it seems like a lot of ingredients. I did a little research and it seems, like you posted, they are usually manufactured with a thin mixture of just flour/starch and water and then baked between two iron sheets (i guess kind of like a flat waffle iron without the waffle pattern) and then cut into rounds. I wonder if a tortilla baker would work for these.

Well Rita isn’t the only one not having Nürnberger Lebkuchen this year. My mom didn’t make them; what’s up with that?! She didn’t make Zimtsterne either, but that’s more forgivable.

Kadefol - Funny seeing you on a “German” thread - since the first time I saw your name I read it as Kartoffel!

I believe Oblaten means wafer. That recipe in the video seems to be not for the wafers used as a base or back in baking other cookies but for the Oblaten Cookie. There are several types of Oblaten cookies. Some are layered like sandwich cookies with fillings and some are flavored with extracts to be eaten plain with like we would wafer cookies with tea, coffee or as a garnish for ice creams or puddings.

Makes sense, watchme, but that’s not how the baker introduces the video. Maybe she’s confusing these herself.

MIL made several different types of German cookies at Christmas, and sadly I don't know the names of all of them, only the macaroons since that is to this day DH's favorite. That's the only reason why I wanted them. I bake them on parchment paper but they still stick, and when baked on the wafers that doesn't happen, they stick to the wafer but the wafer doesn't stick to the pan.