Bärentatzen

Hi there,

in the process of christmas baking, there are a few more recipes coming up soon. This one is fairly easy and not particularly made for X-Mas, but I thought I'd share nonetheless. I don't know, if there is an english name, so if any of you native english speakers recognise the cookies and have a name for them, pls let me know!










So, the few ingredients needed:

• 250 g butter (is essential here, no margarine!)
• 175 g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (oder ein Vanillezucker)
• 75 g blanched ground almonds
• 175 g all-purpose flour
• 175 g starch
• 150 g dark chocolate
• 150 g nougat

and how to make them:

• mix butter and sugar until creamy, then add the egg and the almonds
• mix flour and starch, add slowly to the butter mixture
• add vanilla extract
• get the dough into a piping bag and pipe out on grease-proof paper, shape should resemble the paw of a bear
• get in the pre-heated oven at 180 °C (fan) and bake for 8-10 mins.
• once cooled, find pairs that match and spread molten nougat on one bottom-side and top with the second one
• dip half in molten chocolate and let cool
• alternatively you can leave out the nougat and just dip them into the chocolates, both versions are scrummy (as Mary Berry would say...)

Enjoy!

Lebkuchen

In preparation for Christmas, my mum and I have started with some classic german recipes. This one will have to rest for 2-4 weeks, so made now, they will be ready for the Advent time. For the non-Germans that are not aware of what Lebkuchen is, I have undertaken a little research. Apparently, Lebkuchen has been developed in the monastries in the medival times and there are many local versions of it, some famous ones are Aachener Printen and Nürnberger Lebkuchen. The most important thing that they all have in common is that the basis is a honey cake that is spiced with at least cinnamon, cloves and anis. This recipe here is a family recipe that hasn't been made for a very long time, so this year, we wanted to try. I always thought, that Lebkuchen is very difficult to make, but once you have all the ingredients together, it is in fact rather simple.

Here we go, ingredients:

• 250 g honey
• 100 g sugar
• 100 g margarine or butter
• 500 g all-purpose flour (non-rising)
• 10 g potassium carbonate (Pottasche in German, makes the very sweet dough rise better), alternatively 1 heaped tbsp baking powder
• 10 g ground cinnamon
• 10 g ground cloves
• 5 g ground anis
• 5 g ground cardamom
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 2-3 tbsp Rum (not necessary, but gives the dough some depth)
• 1 egg

You see, it's rather a long and unusual list of ingredients, however, the making is that much simpler:

• mix honey, sugar and margarine in a small pan and heat until completely dissolved
• cool until lukewarm
• meanwhile mix all the dry ingredients
• add the honey mixture to the other ingredients, make a smooth dough
• add the Rum and the egg an knead until you have a firm dough
• let rest for half an hour, then roll out to a 1 cm thick layer
• bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 °C for 20 mins
• now be quick and cut in shape before the cake cools down
• once cooled, the now very hard cake can be covered in either chocolate or any other icing
• and the hard part is: put them away for 2-4 weeks, best way store in an airtight metal box, test from time to time if the cake has softened enough

That's it!