Lebkuchen Apple Butter Food

LEBKUCHEN COOKIES

Steps:

• Prepare the Cookies: In a 1½ quart saucepan, combine the honey and muscovado sugar. Over medium-high heat, stir gently until the sugar begins to dissolve and the mixture just begins to come to a simmer. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool until warm to touch. Whisk in the egg and lemon zest and juice.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
• On low speed, stir in the wet ingredients until a smooth, sticky dough forms. Laura's Note: This will be slack and loose, don't worry! Scrape the dough into a lightly oiled ceramic bowl and cover with a plate - you want the dough to be able to breathe.
• Allow the dough to "ripen" at cool room temperature for 1 to 2 days - do not refrigerate. (The large amount of honey and sugar will keep bacteria at bay.)
• Position racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat it to 350°F (180°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Turn out the dough onto a well-floured work surface. Roll it out to a ¼-inch/6 mm thickness. Use a bench scraper or thin spatula to get under the dough and scoot it around in the flour occasionaly to prevent sticking. Cut shapes with 2-inch/5 cm cutters and place 1 inch/2½ cm apart on the prepared baking sheets. Sweep away any excess flour with a pastry brush.
• Bake until fragrant and lightly browned, about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time. (Watch closely, as honey in the dough can make the edges catch and burn quickly.)
• Prepare the Glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar, egg white, lemon juice, and salt for a smooth, thin, runny glaze. (Add a few drops of lemon juice, as needed, to achieve this consistency).
• Let the cookies firm up and cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Run an offset spatula under the cookies to gently looesn them from the parchment paper, leaving them on the sheets.
• While still warm, brush the cookies with glaze and transfer to wire racks. Allow the cookies to cool and the glaze to dry completely.
• The secret to a perfect lebkuchen texture is in the resting phase: place the cookies into airtight containers in layers, seperated by parchment or wax paper. Tuck a wedge of apple in the container before sealing. Store in a cool place for at least 3 days, or up to 2 weeks, to allow the cookies to ripen once more before serving.

AUTHENTIC GERMAN LEBKUCHEN (NüRNBERGER ELISENLEBKUCHEN)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• Toss the candied lemon and orange peel with about 1/4 cup all-purpose flour to keep it from sticking together and then pulse in a food processor until finely minced. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs until foamy. Add the sugar, honey and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
• Add the ground almonds and hazelnuts, salt, baking powder, Lebkuchengewürz, and candied lemon and orange peels and stir vigorously until thoroughly combined. (You can use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat for about 2 minutes). The mixture will be wet but if it is too thin to scoop onto the oblaten add some more almond or hazelnut meal.
• Scoop the mixture onto the Backoblaten, smoothing down the top and leaving just a slight space around the edges. Set them on a lined cookie sheet.
• Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove the cookie sheet and allow to cool completely.
• Once cooled, place a wire rack over a cookie sheet (to catch the drippings). Dip half the Lebkuchen in the chocolate glaze and half in the sugar glaze, letting the excess drip back into the bowl and then place the Lebkuchen on the wire rack. Arrange 3 almonds on each Lebkuchen while the glaze is still wet. Let the Lebkuchen dry completely until the glaze is hardened.
• Keep stored in an airtight container. Will keep for several weeks and the flavor improves with time.
• Makes about 35 if using 70mm Backoblaten and about 25 if using 90mm Backoblaten.

LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
• Heat the honey and butter in a small saucepan over a low heat until melted. Tip into a large mixing bowl and put in the fridge for 5 minutes.
• Remove the honey-butter mixture from the fridge and sieve in the remaining ingredients, stirring to combine. (The mixture will be sticky.) Return to the fridge for about 1 hour, or until completely cold.
• With damp hands, break off pieces of the dough and roll into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball. Transfer to the baking trays and flatten down slightly, leaving enough space between each lebkuchen to spread during cooking. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the lebkuchen has risen and are firm to the touch. Set aside to cool slghtly on the baking trays, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the sugar glaze, mix the icing sugar and water in a bowl. Dip one side of the lebkuchen into the glaze and return to the wire rack, icing side up, to set.
• Alternatively, to make the chocolate glaze, melt half the chocolate in a small heatproof bowl over a simmering saucepan of water, making sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water. When the chocolate has almost melted, take the pan off the heat and add the remaining chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate has melted. Dip one side of the lebkuchen into the chocolate and return to the wire rack, chocolate side up, to set.
• You can also use a combination of the icing and the chocolate glaze. Simply dunk one side of the lebkuchen in the icing and leave to set, before dunking the other side in the glaze and leave to set to completely.

LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 15x10x1-in. baking pan with parchment., In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in molasses, buttermilk and extract. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, allspice, cardamom and cloves; gradually add to creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in walnuts., Place raisins, dates, lemon peel, coconut, orange peel and pineapple in a food processor; pulse until chopped. Stir into batter; press into prepared pan. Bake 25-28 minutes or until lightly browned., For glaze, in a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat; whisk in confectioners' sugar. Spread over warm bars. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

APPLE KUCHEN

Steps:

• Arrange apples in a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. Combine 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon; set aside 1 tablespoon. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon-sugar over apples. , In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and remaining sugar; beat in the milk and butter until blended. Drop by tablespoonfuls over apples; sprinkle with reserved cinnamon-sugar. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to a wire rack., Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, salt and water until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Remove from the heat; add butter and vanilla. Serve with warm kuchen.

LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• Tip the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Heat the honey and butter in a pan over a low heat until the butter melts, then pour into the flour mixture along with the lemon zest. Mix well until the dough is combined and fairly solid. Cover and leave to cool.
• Heat oven to 180C/fan160C/gas 4. Using your hands, roll dough into about 30 balls, each 3cm wide, then flatten each one slightly into a disk. Divide the biscuits between two baking trays lined with baking parchment, leaving room for them to expand. Bake for 15 mins, then cool on a wire rack.
• To ice the biscuits, mix together the icing sugar, egg white and 1-2 tbsp water to form a smooth, runny icing. Dip the top of each biscuit in the icing and spread with the back of a knife. Leave to dry out in a warm room.

LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• Make nut flour:
• Finely grind nuts with remaining nut flour ingredients in a food processor.
• Make dough:
• Beat together brown sugar, honey, and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in nut flour at low speed until just blended, then stir in candied fruit.
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Arrange rice-paper rounds, shiny sides down, on 2 large baking sheets. Roll level 2-tablespoon amounts of dough into balls with dampened hands, then put 1 on each paper round and flatten slightly (dough will spread to cover paper during baking).
• Bake cookies in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until surface no longer appears wet, about 15 minutes total. Transfer to racks to cool.
• Ice cookies:
• Sift confectioners sugar into a bowl, then stir in water until smooth. Evenly brush tops of cooled cookies with icing. Let icing set, about 1 hour.
• Available at Fauchon (212-308-5919) or The Baker's Catalogue (800-827-6836).

APFELKUCHEN (APPLE CAKE)

Steps:

• Grease the bottom and sides of a 9x13-inch baking dish or a 9-inch springform pan.
• Beat 2 1/4 cup flour, milk, 1/4 cup sugar, yeast, 6 tablespoons butter, vanilla extract, and 1 pinch salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high until dough is smooth, about 5 minutes; spread into baking dish and press dough up the sides. Press apple slices into dough.
• Mix 1 cup sugar, 3/4 cup flour, candied lemon peel, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1 pinch salt in a bowl. Cut in 1/2 cup butter with a knife or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; sprinkle over apples. Allow dough to rise for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Bake in preheated oven until cake is golden brown and apples are tender, about 35 minutes.