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Ingredients:
500 grams of honey (17.63 oz)
500 grams of brown sugar (17.63 oz)
300 grams of butter (10.58 oz)
1 kilogram of flour (35.27 oz)
3 teaspoons of lebkuchen spice
grated peel of a lemon
50 grams baking cocoa (1.76 oz)
2 egg yellows
2 teapsoons potash*
4 tablespoons of rum
* Potash gets sold in pharmacies in Germany and during the Christmas season it also can be found in stores in the baking section. Potash is used because it enables the dough to rise but not spread out, therefore helping the cut out to keep its shape.
The Icing:
2 egg whites
about 500 grams of powdered sugar - the icing will be used for piping to decorate the cookies and should be thick enough that it is not runny.
How to Make the Lebkuchen:
Melt the honey, sugar and butter in a pot until the sugar is disolved. Let the mixture cool down. Add the flour, spice, lemon peel and cacoa to the mixture and mix together with a mixer and kneading hooks. Add the potash to the rum and let it disolve. Add this also to the mixture and knead the dough until it has turned dull and is not sticky. Line a bowl with plastic foil and now place the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
To prepare the cookies, take the dough a portion at a time, roll out to about 5 mm thick and then press cookie cutter into dough.
Makes about 30-50 cookies depending on the size of the cookie cutters.
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