The Bakinglady 

When I was a child my family lived in Hannover in Germany for a few years, and Christmas was just the most magical time.  We would wrap up in fifteen layers and venture out to the snow covered markets, and on some of the stalls were beautifully iced and decorated, heartshaped Lebkuchen, ranging in size fron mouthsized morsals to some bigger than a dinnerplate. Pfeffer nuss and Gingerbread, Gluhwein and candied nuts, and the fantastic savoury aroma of Bratwurst and Bockwurst , the sights and smells of these wonderful markets embedded themselves in my subconscious and I love to make these traditional spiced cookies every year, sometimes making a hole at the top of the prebaked cookie and threading them with brightly coloured ribbon to hang on the tree. Christmas just wouldn't be the same without them......

Makes 30 cookies

Ingredients

170g honey

60g soft light brown sugar

30ml water

25g butter

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of ground nutmeg

pinch of ground cardamom

grated rind of 1/2 a lemon

1 egg yolk

225g plain flour

145g ground almonds

60g, mixed peel, finely chopped

60g raisins, very finely chopped

3 teaspoons baking powder

Icing

225g Fondant icing sugar

2 tablesppons water

To decorate

Hundreds and thousands, silver dragees, sugar stars...etc....

Food colouring

What to do

Preheat the oven to 180c

Melt the butter, honey, sugar and water in a small saucepan then add all the spices, lemon zest and cocoa, stir really well then leave to cool.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and add the ground almonds and very finely chopped raisins and mixed peel, combine well.

Add the egg yolk to the honey mixture then pour this over the dry ingredients, combine well to make a fairly firm dough. Add a little flour if it seems a little sticky.

Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface, knead briefly and then roll out to 1/4" thick 1/2cm cut out using a heart shaped cutter . Place onto a baking tray lined with silicone or parchment paper and bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 15-18 minutes. The cookies should be light golden brown.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Once the cookies are cool, make up the fondant icing with the water, combining to make a paste of a thick spreadable consistency, colour with food colouring and then go mad, decorating your lovely cookies with the fondant icing, dragees, hundreds and thousands and whatever else you have found to decorate your lebkuchen.... Enjoy!