Lebkuchen

I found a lovely recipe for Lebkuchen and I developed what I would call a very romantic view; both of the process of making them and of the end result. Just look at the picture! The cute boxes! The perfectly round cakes! I would find a lace apron, put my hair in a bun, and commune with the 14th century German women or bakers who were whipping these up back in the day. Stephen went to Nuremberg last year and loved it, so since these are original to that town, I thought it would be cool. I found it on Martha Stewart’s website and if you would like a challenge…give it a shot. Do not attempt this without a food processor. I cannot stress this enough. Believe me, as much fun as it sounds, an hour of fine nut-chopping is not that thrilling.

The German town of Nuremberg has been famous for its lebkuchen since the late 1300s; the soft, cakey cookies are traditionally made with several spices, candied citrus peel, hazelnuts, and almonds. Packaged in quaint town house boxes, the cookies seem all the more authentic. For the how-to, see Town House Gift Boxes. To toast almonds and hazelnuts, spread them in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake in an oven heated to 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Well, all I can say is that I spent 3 nights on these babies and I could only keep one plate full to present to friends and family. The others were sad, sad little cookies that were either super chunky, burnt, soggy, flimsy or broken. I placed an emergency cookie call to Ciji Russell, chef and dessert artist extraordinaire, who talked be down out of my hysteria. “They don’t look like the picture!” I said.

She was, naturally, full of good advice. She thought that maybe, from the description of the ingredients and the consistency I described that maybe I had somehow added an extra egg when I tripled the recipe…more flour. She also suggested steering away from my non-stick cookie sheets that were burning the bottoms in favor of glass. She also had a cool tip about refrigerating the scooped unbaked cookies so that they kept their shape better before baking. Thanks Ciji! With some help from my foodie friend I was able to keep this from being another casualty in a long line of baking failures.

The main stress was coming from the Tudor cookie exchange that is scheduled for tonight. The Tudors traditionally pick a cookie day that is sacredly reserved for nothing but baking, what seems to me to be, millions of cookies. This year because of our busy schedules, we opted for an exchange. That meant I couldn’t just dispose of my failed baked goods in my usual fashion…a subtle slip into the trash can, (”What was that honey? oh nothing.”) a gentle toss out of a moving vehicle (thump) or a more subversive late night disposal in the pine barrens in Mafia mode (rustle, rustle, followed by panting and a quick getaway.) Oh no, at least 2 dozen of these puppies would have to be “presentable.”

Well, they’re done, moderately cute if ill-formed and very, very tasty.