Christmas is known for bringing out the ancestral origins in all of us, with every culture celebrating the holidays enjoying their specific holiday foods. Although my parents were born here in Canada, our German heritage was very evident in my mother’s cooking and baking.
One cookie that has been made specifically for holidays for hundreds of years is gingerbread. Across Europe you will find many versions of the spicy cookies in different shapes, colors and textures.
‘Lebkucken’, a traditional German gingerbread was invented by medieval monks in Franeonia, Germany in the 13th century. Prepared in monastery bakeries with ingredients that not only had symbolic religious meaning but were highly prized for their healing properties.
There are a variety of types of lebkucken, each distinguished by slight alterations in ingredients. Most common ingredients include: * honey, flour, sugar and eggs * gingerbread spice mix or ‘Lebkuckengewurz’ * almonds, hazelnuts and/or walnuts * candied lemon and orange peel. The most critical ingredient being the ‘exotic’ spices from all around the world such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, anise, cardamom, coriander and ginger.
Lebkucken can be round, square or rectangular. They can be glazed or not. Sometimes cocoa is mixed in with the dough making it rich and chocolaty. Other times, roasted apple, marzipan or cashews may be mixed in to add different flavors and textures.
‘Elisen lebkucken’ are the highest quality made. They must have at least 25% almonds, hazelnuts and/or walnuts and must contain no more than 10% flour if any. The ‘Nuremberg lebkucken’, baked in the city of Nuremberg, Germany, are known worldwide to be the best. Marzipan is often an ingredient in these gingerbread.
Of course this brings me back to another memory. Some years ago I had the experience of spending some time in the presence of a Dutch baker. At Christmas time, he would bake these incredible Dutch cookies called ‘Speculaas’ that were filled with marzipan and had that glorious similar spice blend. I just loved it and can’t resist making some version of it every Christmas season since.
Today, I’m making a large batch of lebkucken which I’m going to divide. Half of it is going to be made into ‘glazed’ triangles and the other half I want to dip in white chocolate and add a little holly decoration. Should be good!
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German Gingerbread
Gingerbread cookies that are rich with warm spices, toasted nuts and candied fruit.
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Ingredients
Gingerbread Dough
- 1/4 cup (28 gm) walnuts,
- 1/4 cup (28 gm) hazelnuts
- 1/2 cup (57 gm) almond meal
- 2 3/4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp (adjust to your taste) ginger, ground
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground
- 1/2 tsp cloves, ground
- 1/2 tsp coriander, ground
- 1/4 tsp cardamom, ground
- 1/2 tsp anise seed, ground
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (110 gm) chopped, candied orange or lemon peel, tightly packed
- 1/4 cup (57 gm) chopped, crystallized ginger, tightly packed
- 1/4 cup (50 gm) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup (140 gm) brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup (340 gm) honey (adjust to your taste)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Ingredients
Gingerbread Dough
- 1/4 cup (28 gm) walnuts,
- 1/4 cup (28 gm) hazelnuts
- 1/2 cup (57 gm) almond meal
- 2 3/4 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp (adjust to your taste) ginger, ground
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground
- 1/2 tsp cloves, ground
- 1/2 tsp coriander, ground
- 1/4 tsp cardamom, ground
- 1/2 tsp anise seed, ground
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (110 gm) chopped, candied orange or lemon peel, tightly packed
- 1/4 cup (57 gm) chopped, crystallized ginger, tightly packed
- 1/4 cup (50 gm) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup (140 gm) brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup (340 gm) honey (adjust to your taste)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
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Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
|
Instructions
Gingerbread Dough
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Preheat oven to 350 F. Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet & toast until the skins blister, about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly, then transfer nuts to a clean kitchen towel & rub together to remove the skins. Cool completely.
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In a small bowl, combine almond meal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices & salt. Transfer hazelnuts to a food processor, add walnuts, candied citrus rind & crystallized ginger along with 1 cup of the dry ingredient mixture; pulse until very finely chopped. Add remaining dry ingredients & pulse ONLY to combine.
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In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat butter with brown sugar until creamy. Add honey & beat until smooth. Add eggs & vanilla, beating to combine. Fold in dry ingredients then beat until evenly combined. Divide the dough in half. Wrap in plastic wrap & chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.
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Line an 8 x 8-inch square baking dish with 2 pieces of parchment paper (this will allow you to easily remove squares fro the pan). Spread the half of the chilled dough evenly into baking pan & bake in the center of the oven until surface is dimpled & a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. The cake should be springy but firm. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes.
Glaze
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In a bowl, whisk powdered sugar with your choice of flavoring & water to make a thin but spreadable glaze. Spread glaze on just-warm cake & let cool completely. Remove cake (with parchment) from pan onto cutting board. Cut 16 squares then cut each square into 2 'triangles' giving you 32 pieces.
Making Individual Cookies
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Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Scoop about 1 1/2 Tbsp dough out at a time. Roll into balls. Place on parchment about 2-inches apart & bake at 350 F. for 15 minutes or test with a toothpick. Remove from oven & cool completely.
White Chocolate Icing
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In a microwave safe bowl, melt white chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp shortening on HIGH for 10 second intervals, stirring between intervals, until melted, smooth & fairly runny. Dip half of each cookie in melted white chocolate mixture then run bottom of cookie slightly along edge of bowl to remove excess. Place on parchment paper to set at room temperature.
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For the holly decoration, melt candy melts, one color at a time. Place in a small piping bag with a #4 tip & pipe decorations. Allow to set up at room temperature. You should have around 26 cookies.
Recipe Notes
- If you would like a dark depth of flavor, add 2 Tbsp dark, unsweetened cocoa to your cookie dough as well as using a dark brown sugar instead of the light.
- If you prefer to not make 2 different versions, make the whole recipe into either bars or rounds -- your choice!
- This is one of those cookies that gets better as it ages.
- Something I did & found it worked well was to portion out my cookies before chilling the dough.
