Lebkuchen is not gingerbread. Even if many companies label their English export products as gingerbread. Even though some recipes include ginger, many do not, writes Food editor Kelly Brant.
Lebkuchen is better described as a spiced-honey baked good. Somewhere between a cookie and a cake.
It’s soft and chewy; rich with nuts and fruit, yet light and airy.
And lebkuchen is everywhere at Christmastime in Germany.
Some are coated in chocolate while others don a simple confectioners’ sugar glaze. Some have soft, jammy fruit fillings and others are topped with almonds. Some are filled with marzipan.
Most lebkuchen are made with almonds or hazelnuts, candied citron and orange peel, honey and spices such as cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, and yes, sometimes ginger.
Brant recently made lebkuchen at home with excellent results.
For the recipe, read Wednesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Style.