Wolf's Den

Several years ago, my local newspaper did an article on a German family that lives here. They included a recipe for Lebkuchen that the lady of the family's ancestors had brought over from Germany.

It's perfect for those that don't care for molasses, great for eating as cookies, and even builds awesome houses. It's become a yearly holiday staple for me, as both my dad and my Father in Law love gingerbread.



Now, the original recipe calls for Gingerbread spice mixture, which is practically impossible to find outside of Germany, especially in the US. }:/ Even Google turns up nothing. That mixture contains 14 different spices. Yeah. This recipe has 6.}:)


Photos are of last year's cookies, as I've not decorated this year's yet- all 3 containers of them.}:P


8Tbsps (1 stick) unsalted butter
9oz honey
1cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa (I use Hershey's Special Dark)
1/2 package of gingerbread spice mix*
4 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 egg, lightly beaten

* Substitute the following-
1 Tbsp ground Ginger
1 Tbsp ground Cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground Nutmeg
1 Tbsp ground Allspice
1 tsp ground Cardamom
1 tsp ground Clove



Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add honey, sugar, cocoa, spices, and mix with wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved. Then let stand, off the heat, for 1 hour to cool.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Add the lightly beaten egg to the honey mixture, mixing in well.

Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until it is soft, pliable and shiny. This may take a few minutes. Yes, it will be sticky, you will need more flour.

Form dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap, refrigerate AT LEAST 24 hours, LONGER IS BETTER. I do mine a minimum of 48 hrs, this year, it went 96+ hrs and came out beautifully.

Take out 1 hour prior to rolling and cutting. Roll out to about 1/4" thickness for cookies, 1/2" thickness for houses. Transfer shapes to lightly greased cookie sheets - I used a baking stone with excellent results, if you have a Silpat or parchment baking paper, that works well too- and bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees F, for 10-12 minutes.

Let cool completely and decorate to your imagination's content.



My niece helped with this house last year.}:)