With so many different colony cooks preparing the same foods, it makes sense that there will be more than one recipe for any common dish, especially when it comes to Christmas cookies! For the next three weeks we’ll be posting different variations of the honey cookie. Here’s the first:
Lebkuchen – Honey Cookies
1 tablespoon baking soda
3 tablespoons whiskey
2 cups honey
½ pound (1 cup and 1 tablespoon) sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ pounds (5 ¼ cups) flour
Vanilla frosting
Preheat oven to 350°.
Dissolve soda in whiskey. In a very large mixing bowl, stir together dissolved baking soda and whiskey, honey, and sugar. (If honey is hard or granulated, heat slowly in saucepan until fluid before combining with other ingredients.) Stir until foamy. Add eggs, beating well after each. Then slowly add flour. A soft dough will form. Cover and set bowl in a cool place or refrigerate overnight.
Turn out a portion of the dough on a floured board. Kneading the dough is very important to the quality of the finished product, so take your time and knead until the dough feels springy and light, but not dry. Roll into 1- to 2-inch-thick ropes. Cut ropes into 2- or 3-inch-long pieces and place on a greased baking sheet.
Bake 10 minutes. Cookies should be golden brown, oval shaped, and about ⅓ to ½ inch thick.
When cool, frost with vanilla frosting.
Makes about 5 dozen.
Lina Unglenk, Amana
Note: Some Amana cooks add a handful of citron or chopped hickory nuts, but Lina prefers her honey cookies without embellishment. “My grandmother used this recipe, my mother used this recipe, and I do too. The cookies always turn out nice, and they keep well. Of course they don’t last long; the kids like them so!”
This recipe comes from the cookbook Seasons of Plenty: Amana Communal Cooking and was posted with permission of author Emilie Hoppe. Learn more about the book and how to purchase it.
