Merry Christmas: here’s my gift to you
It’s a holiday recipe. I posted it once before, but that was in my first year of blogging, and most of you probably never caught it.
This was brought over from Germany sometime in the mid-1800s, and was my favorite of all the wonderful goodies cooked by my great-aunt Flora, a baker of rare gifts. She and my great-uncle were not only exceptionally wonderful people, but to my childish and wondering eyes they looked very much like Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus.
The name of the treat is lebkuchen. But it’s a different version from the traditional recipe, which I don’t much care for. This is sweet and dense, can be made ahead, and keeps very well when stored in tins.
Flora’s Lebkuchen:
(preheat the oven to 375 degrees)
1 pound dark brown sugar
4 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
4 oz. chopped dates
1 cup raisins
1 tsp. orange juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. lemon juice
Sift the dry ingredients together (flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon).
Beat the eggs and brown sugar together with a rotary beater till the mixture forms the ribbon. Add the orange juice, lemon juice, and extracts to it.
Add the dry mixture to it, a little at a time, stirring.
Add the raisins, dates, and walnuts.
Grease and flour two 9X9 cake pans. Put batter in pans and bake for about 25 minutes (or a little less; test the cake with a cake tester to see if it’s done). You don’t want it to get too dark and dry on the edges, but the middle can’t still be wet when tested.
Meanwhile, make the frosting.
Melt about 6 Tbs. of unsalted butter and add 2 Tbs. hot milk, and 1 Tbs. almond extract. Add enough confectioner’s sugar to make a frosting of spreading consistency (the recipe says “2 cups,” but I’ve always noticed that’s not exactly correct and it needs considerably more). You can make even more frosting if you like a lot of frosting.
Let cake cool to at least lukewarm, and spread generously with the frosting. Then cut into small pieces and store (or eat!).
Thanks for the recipe. I was curious about Lebkuchen recipes the other day. I haven’t had it since I was a child when my family spent some time in Germany. I had mixed feelings about it then, but I’ve been curious about trying it again since reading praise of it on some foody blogs I like to frequent.
My Scots-Irish mother’s Lebkuchen was a welcome addition to the Christmas season. Hard to chew, but tasty. I don’t have the recipe in front of me to compare. Will have to try it out, even though the bathroom scales say I don’t need it.
Wonderful.
” One pound brown sugar” plus “2 caps of sugar”?
*faints* in sugar-induced coma
Well.
I would return a recipe from my “I Never Cooked Before Cookbook” but, probably, I am old enough to be your mother, so, well, never. mind.
Enjoy… you holiday ………..Lady in Red
PS: Thank you for the link to IowaHawk. He is over the top, not to be believed. Funny, too.
If eating well and walking for miles doesn’t seem to do anything for you, maybe the pounds are literally sneaking on. How? Through an extra bite here and there. Try a food scale so you know what you’re actually eating!