This Basic German Vacation Cookie Is Even Higher Than Gingerbread

Over time, I’ve eaten 1000’s and 1000’s of Christmas cookies. Lebkuchen have been by no means amongst them. Actually, till I began hiring German au pairs to assist with my youngsters, I would by no means even heard of them. Yearly at Christmas, the women, from Munich, Dresden, Cologne, Frankfurt, Saarbrücken, and Hamburg, would obtain care packages from house. Inside have been Creation calendars (apparently it is a massive factor in Germany), hundreds and a great deal of chocolate, and packing containers of lebkuchen. In contrast to the acquainted exhausting gingerbread, lebkuchen are tender, cakey gingerbread cookies full of nuts, dried fruit, and honey. They date again to Thirteenth-century monastic Nuremberg, the place manufacturing continues to be sturdy right this moment, and are most likely Germany’s most well-known cookies. So fairly, adorned with a crackling chocolate or sugary glaze, complete almonds, and glacéed cherries, they promised a lot however inevitably did not ship.

I by no means a lot cared for them, preferring the crunchy gingerbread or snappy gingersnaps of my childhood. So tackling a recipe that was clearly not in my wheelhouse was going to be a problem. I would must neglect every thing I knew about gingerbread cookies (besides perhaps the spices) and begin virtually from scratch.

Dialing within the Texture and Taste

I knew that I wished a chewy and cakey texture. Step one was utilizing honey and darkish brown sugar to sweeten the dough, since these components are humectants, which means they assist retain moisture; common white sugar tends to harden when it caramelizes, making the lebkuchen manner too snappy and crispy. Plus, honey and brown sugar add loads of their very own wealthy taste, good for spiced Christmas cookies.

I additionally knew to make use of extra baking powder than baking soda. Baking soda, as you may learn on this primer, is right for making a crispy texture—baking soda–heavy cookies are inclined to rise after which deflate. Powder, alternatively, will make a puffier cookie that rises and stays risen, resulting in extra cakey texture.

And I knew I would have to make use of extra eggs and flour than instinct would inform me, and never as a lot butter—extra flour in relation to the fats means extra gluten improvement (fats interferes with the formation of gluten), which in flip results in a extra doughy consequence. For taste, I would have to make use of a number of candied fruit (although I draw the road at citron, sorry) and probably some cocoa (considering pumpernickel).

All these instructions have been pointing me towards one thing I used to be destined to hate. Till, that’s, I tasted the primary cookie. The flavors have been truly form of intoxicating—spicy, fruity, nutty, with barely a touch of cocoa, and the feel was by no means disagreeable. Actually, it was fairly good.

So the feel was virtually there, the colour was good, and the flavour was good, although it might’ve used a bit extra spice. Then I tasted it the subsequent day and was amazed on the distinction. Every thing had had an opportunity to come back collectively. Actually, the feel was higher the second day. The cookie had softened a bit and was properly moist and chewy beneath the skinny crackle of glaze. Not fairly good, although, since I nonetheless wished extra spice and a barely darker, richer coloration. For the subsequent check, I upped the spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and cardamom—generally bought as “lebkuchen spices” in Germany) and switched from Valrhona unsweetened cocoa to Hershey’s Additional Darkish Cocoa. At first I would assumed that the fancier cocoa can be the way in which to go, but it surely added an excessive amount of bitterness; the mellow richness of the Hershey’s Additional Darkish, the everyman of cocoas, was excellent.

These had that just-spicy-enough depth, a stunning deep mahogany coloration, and that superior chewy, cakey texture. I used to be really stunned by how a lot I preferred them. I used to be extra stunned by how a lot my son preferred them, he of the Toll-Home-is-the-only-cookie ilk.

Shaping and Baking the Cookies

Most of my au pairs would obtain store-bought spherical lebkuchen of their care packages, however sometimes one in every of their moms would ship home made bars, that are much less time-consuming to make than rounds however no much less scrumptious. I wished a dough that might be baked each methods, as both rounds or bars. I ended up with a dough that is tender and sticky sufficient to require vital chilling earlier than forming into rounds, however can be utilized instantly if making bars.

A pleasant choice is to bake half of the dough into bars (1 / 4 sheet pan is ideal) and the opposite half into rounds. An necessary factor to notice for bars is that the dried fruit must be very finely chopped to make chopping the cookies simpler. Dried fruit might be very sticky, although, which makes mincing troublesome.

My resolution is to cut the dried fruit and crystallized ginger with among the dry components, both on the chopping board or in a meals processor, then pulse them within the meals processor with the remaining dry components after that. It is an additional step, but it surely makes a giant distinction, for the reason that flour coats the lower surfaces, lowering their stickiness. When rolling into balls, I like to make use of a 1.75-inch ice cream scoop, moistened with water between scoops. Maintain a glass of heat water and a clear towel subsequent to the bowl, then roll the balls with calmly moistened arms. (Remember to shake out any extra water from the inside track to keep away from introducing an excessive amount of moisture into the dough.)

Historically, lebkuchen are baked on little rice paper rounds known as oblaten—like communion wafers—to maintain them from sticking to the pan. You should purchase them on-line or at specialty shops, however lining the pan with parchment works simply as nicely. Keep away from the temptation to butter and flour your cookie sheet, and do not use a nonstick pan or cooking spray rather than parchment. The paper acts as insulation from the warmth radiating up by the baking sheet—omit it, and the cookies will brown too rapidly on the underside and develop an odd rubbery texture.

When making the glaze, I wished a pure white model, so I used confectioners’ sugar, water, and kirsch, however you should utilize Grand Marnier or rum or vanilla extract as a substitute. The glaze is finest when utilized to only barely cooled cookies and allowed to dry till set. And, as I discussed earlier, these actually do get higher with just a little age, so attempt to withstand the urge to eat them instantly. Maybe you’ve got by no means had them earlier than, both, however I am assured they might grow to be your favourite vacation cookies, too.

December 2015

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