Lebkuchen

Sorry there will be no photo today as this is about cookies my mother used to make each holiday season. She made them before Thanksgiving and set them aside to 'age' - in a metal cookie tin with a slice of apple that she changed every couple days. I don't have her recipe - I think Sara has it in the cookbook that belonged to my mother. Her lebkuchen were bar cookies....mine were rolled ones, so that's the recipe that follows. It's from a Betty Crocker's New Picture Cookbook with a copyright date of 1961.

Lebkuchen

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup molasses

3/4 cup brown sugar (packed)

1 egg

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon rind

2-3/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp nutmeg

1/3 cup cut-up citron

1/3 cup chopped nuts.

Mix honey and molasses; bring to a boil. Sir in sugar, egg, lemon juice and rind. Blend dry ingredients. Mix in citron and nuts. Chill overnight.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Roll small amount at a time, keeping rest chilled. Roll 1/4" thick; cut into oblongs, 2-1/2X1-1/2". Place 1" apart on greased baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 min., or until no imprint remains when touched lightly. While cookies bake, make Glazing Icing (below). Brush it over the cookies the minute they are out of the oven. Quickly remove from baking sheet. Cool; store to mellow. Makes 6 doz cookies.

Glazing Icing

Boil together 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water until first indication of a thread appears (230 degrees). Remove from heat. Stir in 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and brush hot icing lightly over cookies.

These cookies smell heavenly and strongly of the spices they contain when they are baking - much better than a scented candle from Pier 1.

Baking cookies was a happy memory of Christmas's past. My mother was a superb cookie baker and made the best cut-out cookies ever, called sandtarts. They were buttery, very thin and crisp shapes that we decorated with frosting, and candies. When my children were small, I baked several different kinds of cookies every year and was part of a cookie exchange group for several years. I'll have to post a couple other recipes in the time before Christmas.