Let them eat Lebkuchen
Due to overwhelming demand from philcamuk here is my recipe for lebkuchen which I mentioned in my previous post. It's based on an American recipe and I've added UK equivalents to the US 'cup' measures. But really, cups are a great and easy way of measuring stuff so if you get a chance buy a set of 'american cups' to use 'cos they...just work. Conversions are always approximate because, for example, a cup of flour will weigh less than a cup of sugar.
I made this in a Kenwood Chef which makes it pretty effortless but you could probably manage to beat it by hand. Once the dough is mixed you probably want to leave it in a cool place for half an hour or so to cool down. Some recipes I've seen suggest allowing it to 'prove' for up to 24 hours but it's not entirely necessary. Also, when you're rolling it out you need a flat smooth surface like glass or melamine. Using wood or plastic would, I reckon, be an absolute nightmare due to the consistency of the dough.
INGREDIENTS:
* 3 cups (about 400g/14oz) all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 8 tablespoons (114g/4oz) unsalted butter, softened
* 1/2 cup (114g/4oz) packed brown sugar
* 1 large egg, room temperature, lightly beaten
* 1 tablespoon (20ml) lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 3 teaspoon (or 1 dessert spoon) ground mixed spice
* 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
* 1/2 cup (114g/4oz) cut mixed peel
* 1/2 cup (114g/4oz) honey
* Icing sugar to dust
PREPARATION:
Place rack in the center of oven and preheat to 180C. Butter a baking sheet (you'll probably need about 3 but you can do them in batches).
Sift together the flour, baking powder and soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Beat in the egg, lemon juice, spices and mixed peel.
Heat the honey in a small saucepan over low heat until it is just warm and slightly thinned. Beat the honey into the butter mixture in a steady stream until well blended. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture 1/4 cup at a time. Knead thoroughly until the mixture is well combined. The dough is very sticky but it should stay together if formed into a ball.
Roll one piece of dough to a 1/4-inch thickness on a well-floured work surface, using a well-floured rolling pin and sprinkling the dough with flour as necessary. Cut the dough with a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter. Roll and cut the remaining dough the same way.
Put the cookies on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 to 13 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool completely on wire racks. Once completely cool, sprinkle with icing sugar and store in an airtight container.
Yields about 3 dozen.
So, that's the recipe I made. I'm a firm believer that cooking should be somewhat experimental. A recipe for me is a guide. I use them to get the basic proportions right and then play about with the specifics based on personal taste and/or availability of ingredients. The original recipe called for various spices and I had difficulty finding a couple of them so I substituted mixed spice. They could probably take double this amount of spice quite ahppily but it obviously depends on personal taste.
I have a couple of suggestions that might work well. Instead of using cut and mixed peel you could use grated orange and lemon rind to give them a slightly more citrusy tang. The mixed peel tends to make them a little lumpy when rolling them out but they taste nice.
If you like ginger I reckon some finely chopped fresh ginger root would be a nice addition instead of (or as well as) the ginger powder, especially if you used grated rind instead of cut mixed peel.
Also, instead of dusting them in icing sugar I reckon it would be nice to glaze one third, cover another third in chocolate and leave the middle third plain. I saw a recipe which called for that and also some commercial lebkuchen I've bought have been part glazed and part chocolated.
So there you have it. If you decide to make some then let me know how you get on and if yoi play about with the recipe let me know what works and what doesn't. Above all, enjoy!
I made this in a Kenwood Chef which makes it pretty effortless but you could probably manage to beat it by hand. Once the dough is mixed you probably want to leave it in a cool place for half an hour or so to cool down. Some recipes I've seen suggest allowing it to 'prove' for up to 24 hours but it's not entirely necessary. Also, when you're rolling it out you need a flat smooth surface like glass or melamine. Using wood or plastic would, I reckon, be an absolute nightmare due to the consistency of the dough.
INGREDIENTS:
* 3 cups (about 400g/14oz) all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 8 tablespoons (114g/4oz) unsalted butter, softened
* 1/2 cup (114g/4oz) packed brown sugar
* 1 large egg, room temperature, lightly beaten
* 1 tablespoon (20ml) lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 3 teaspoon (or 1 dessert spoon) ground mixed spice
* 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
* 1/2 cup (114g/4oz) cut mixed peel
* 1/2 cup (114g/4oz) honey
* Icing sugar to dust
PREPARATION:
Place rack in the center of oven and preheat to 180C. Butter a baking sheet (you'll probably need about 3 but you can do them in batches).
Sift together the flour, baking powder and soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Beat in the egg, lemon juice, spices and mixed peel.
Heat the honey in a small saucepan over low heat until it is just warm and slightly thinned. Beat the honey into the butter mixture in a steady stream until well blended. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture 1/4 cup at a time. Knead thoroughly until the mixture is well combined. The dough is very sticky but it should stay together if formed into a ball.
Roll one piece of dough to a 1/4-inch thickness on a well-floured work surface, using a well-floured rolling pin and sprinkling the dough with flour as necessary. Cut the dough with a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter. Roll and cut the remaining dough the same way.
Put the cookies on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 to 13 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool completely on wire racks. Once completely cool, sprinkle with icing sugar and store in an airtight container.
Yields about 3 dozen.
So, that's the recipe I made. I'm a firm believer that cooking should be somewhat experimental. A recipe for me is a guide. I use them to get the basic proportions right and then play about with the specifics based on personal taste and/or availability of ingredients. The original recipe called for various spices and I had difficulty finding a couple of them so I substituted mixed spice. They could probably take double this amount of spice quite ahppily but it obviously depends on personal taste.
I have a couple of suggestions that might work well. Instead of using cut and mixed peel you could use grated orange and lemon rind to give them a slightly more citrusy tang. The mixed peel tends to make them a little lumpy when rolling them out but they taste nice.
If you like ginger I reckon some finely chopped fresh ginger root would be a nice addition instead of (or as well as) the ginger powder, especially if you used grated rind instead of cut mixed peel.
Also, instead of dusting them in icing sugar I reckon it would be nice to glaze one third, cover another third in chocolate and leave the middle third plain. I saw a recipe which called for that and also some commercial lebkuchen I've bought have been part glazed and part chocolated.
So there you have it. If you decide to make some then let me know how you get on and if yoi play about with the recipe let me know what works and what doesn't. Above all, enjoy!