Lebkuchen cookies

Christmas is knocking our doors... or I better say our windows. Yay! It's been snowing since a couple of days now up here in the north of Germany. It is a bit ahead of time as it is not common to have snow on these last days of November. Nevertheless I celebrate it! I love snow and cold weather :). And because of that, last night I made a recipe I wanted to make since long. Delicious and crunchy Lebkuchen Cookies. (Lebkuchen Plätzchen in german).

Lebkuchen is a traditionally german Christmas biscuit. Comes from medieval times in the area of Franconia in south Germany. It is also known as Pfefferkuchen (pepper cake) or Honigkuchen (honey cake). The characteristic taste comes from honey and from the mix of spices used, usually cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, anise, cardamom among others. Usually Lebkuchen is very sweet and it is somewhat soft. But in this case I made them as cookies... and trust me they are delicious. I recommend them for any cold snowy afternoon, with a cup of hot tea with a hint of fruits, cinnamon and ginger.

Ingredients:

• 100 gr Honey (liquid)
• 180 gr Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract powder / or liquid or the inside of 1 straw pure natural vanilla.
• 150 gr butter or margarine
• 4 tbsp. Milk
• Spices:
  • 1/2 tsp. Almond extract (liquid or powder)
  • 1 tbsp. Cinnamon powder
  • 1/4 tsp. Cardamom powder
  • 1/2 tsp. Cloves powder
  • 1/4 tsp. Anise powder
  • 1/4 tsp. Ginger powder
  • 1 tsp. grated Lemon rind
  • 2 tbsp. Cacao powder


• 400 gr Flour (all purpose)
• 100 gr Corn Starch (Maize Starch - Maizena)
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• For the decoration:
  • 150 gr Confectioner's Sugar
  • 2 - 3 tbsp Lemon Juice

Preparation:

Place the honey, sugar, vanilla, margarine and milk in a sauce pan and cook in low-medium heat until everything is mixed and sugar and butter are dissolved. Move out of the heat and let it cool down. Prepare the flour. In a bowl, sieve together flour, baking powder, corn starch and cacao powder. Mix all the dry ingredients well and reserve.

When the melted butter, sugar and co. mixture it's cold, mix with your hand mixer on the highest speed. You will obtain a light yellow thick paste. Add all the spices.

Add by portions, 2/3 of the flour mix. Mix well until all ingredients are combined. Reserve 1/3 of the flour for next step. Pre-heat your oven in 392 °F (200 °C). Prepare your baking plate with a sheet of baking paper (maybe you will need 2 baking plates, that will vary according to the size of your cookie or biscuit cutter).

Place the dough mix in your working table and with the rest of the flour-cacao mix, knead until you obtain a soft non-sticky dough. If it is a bit sticky, add a bit more of flour. Cut in half.

Take the first half and use your rolling pin to flatten it until 1/2 cm or 0,2 in. Cut your cookies and place them in the baking plate. You can make the whole dough or you can reserve the half in the freezer. Keeps well frozen.

Bake for around 15-20 minutes on 356 °F / 180 °C . When done, let them cool down and proceed to the decoration.

Add the lemon juice to the Confectioners sugar. Mix well until you get a thick white syrup. You can use your pastry/piping bag, or more free deco -as you can see in my photos- with just a tsp., a knife or a wooden stick, letting the thick syrup fall over the cookies in thin lines. You can decor as you wish :)

Let them cool down again... and enjoy!

Bratapfel - German Baked Apple

Christmas is in the air... so here I have another delicious, easy and light recipe to add a sweet and warm note to your dinner on a special night. Even better for these cold days! (but don't hesitate, it can be made and enjoy in any time of the year!)

Bratapfel (German for Baked Apple), it is a traditional Christmas dessert in all Germany. I must confess that when I made it, it was the first time I enjoyed it! and for sure there will come many more times to do so! It is so easy to make! You only need your apples, some Christmas spices (traditionally cinnamon, cloves, ginger), raisins and walnut, hazelnuts or almonds. Needs only around 5 minutes to prepare plus 30 minutes to bake. And to accompany you can add a delicious (and also easy to make) hot Vanilla Sauce.

I changed a bit the traditional ingredients and used only almonds and not walnuts that are the most common nut for this recipe.

One more line: this time I took the photos, under strong inspiration of the new cook book from Ikea "Homemade is best". I hope you all like them and the recipe!

Ingredients:
(for 3 servings)

• 3 medium size Apples
• Some lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp margarine or butter (1 Tbsp for each apple)
• 3 tsp Cinnamon powder (1 tsp for each apple)
• 3 tsp Ginger powder (1 tsp for each apple)
• 1 tsp Cloves powder (distributed in all 3 apples)
• 3 Tbsp Roughly grounded Almonds (1 Tbsp for each apple)
• Sliced Almonds to decorate

For Vanilla Sauce:

• 400 ml Milk
• 2 Tbsp Corn starch
• Vanilla (liquid extract or powder, much better taste if you can use 1 vanilla bean). The amount you consider if you want it more or less strong the taste. For powder Bourbon Vanilla extract, I used 1 tsp.
• 2 Tbsp sugar

Preparation:

Wash your apples and dry them well. Remove the core of the Apple and make a tunnel around 2 fingers wide.

Remove one line of the skin of the apple all around its middle circumference.

Place the apples in your baking form and bathe them with the lemon juice (to avoid oxidation and brown spots in your apple). Melt the margarine/butter and bathe each apple with it. Be sure if falls on the center hole.

Stuff the apples with the grounded almonds until the half, then add the spices, cinnamon, cloves, ginger. Fill the rest of the hole with the rest of the grounded almonds.

Spread a bit more of cinnamon and ginger over the apples.

Decorate with the sliced almonds adding some on the top of each apple.

Bake in your oven at 190°C (374°F) for about 30 minutes.

Vanilla Sauce:

Mix around 6 Tbsp of cold milk with the Corn Starch. Place the rest of the milk, sugar and vanilla in a sauce pan until milk boils. Remove from fire and while removing constantly, add the milk with the Corn starch. Remove thoroughly. It will start to get thick. Go back to the fire and always moving the sauce, cook for about one more minute.

Serve the sauce and add the apple above. Decorate your apple with some more sauce above it.

Eat slowly and enjoy every second of this delicious Christmas traditional dessert!