German Gingerbread

Lebkuchen to be precise.

On the latest M&J podcast the current series of the Great British Bake Off is discussed ..

https://minhallandjones.com/blog/2021/10/22/the-minhall-and-jones-podcast-episode-13

You can hear why myself & a work colleague are back on the baking trail & sharing our wares with others in the office

German Week.

My chum went for an Apple Crumble Cake which was delicious. Really delicious.

I opted for a warm & spicy treat that is the Lebkuchen & researched many recipes. Some required a lot of preparation time & chilling. I didn't have that luxury on a Tuesday night.

Isn't the joy of making something for the first time seeking out what will work best for you & then amalgamating various versions.

Here's what I opted for ..

To make 15 biscuits

125g Plain Flour

40g Ground Almonds

2tsps Ground Ginger

1tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/2tsp Mixed Spice

1/2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1tsp Baking Powder

100ml Runny Honey

1 Lemon Grated Zest

40g Butter

Oven at 180C/fan160C/gas 4

Pop all the dry ingredients go into a bowl & mix

The honey & the butter need to be heated gently until the butter is no more

Pour the sweet & buttery ambrosia into the spiced flour mixture with the lemon zest and stir

You should end up with a good solid dough

Cover & leave your Deutscher liebling to cool (30-40 minutes)

Time to roll with hands at the ready to shape the dough into small balls (about 3/4cm) before flattening

You can leave them like that but I used circular & star-shaped cutters (like making mud pies & made me happy)

Place your lebkuchen onto one or two parchment-lined baking trays remembering to leave space for them to expand

15 minutes in the oven

Your kitchen will smell like Christmas

Out & cool on a wire rack

Dusting of icing sugar

Soft, warming from the ginger & the mixed spice.

Accompanied by a cup of tea.

Deine Kekse sollen wünderbar sein.

Right tasty in other words.

AMM