I cannot stand the cold, dark and wet German winters. Sure, the long evenings can be homey, especially with some comfort food, candles and hot drinks, but after some weeks I inevitably start yearning for the sun.

The last years we celebrated Christmas at far flung – and warm – places like South Africa or Kenia. This year we decided to stay at home. I like it. Only sometimes, especially after gray days full of nonstop drizzle, I feel this yearning again, but I have learned that cooking and baking helps a lot, especially all the Christmas dishes we did not have the last years.

Hence, I was particularly happy the other day when I discovered the original recipe of Grandma´s Elisenlebkuchen in my mother´s cookbook collection. It´s been years since we last had them, and I was so eager to have them again. Unfortunately, my first attempt was quite a disaster.  But I didn´t give up and this time I got it right.

A tip for chocolate lovers:

My grandma always made the cookies with a lemon sugar glaze. But I am sure they are yummy with a chocolate coating, too.

Elisenlebkuchen – German Elise Gingerbread

Ingredients:

3 eggs

50 g (1,76 oz) sugar

50 g (1,76 oz) honey

150 g (5.3 oz) almonds, finely grounded

150 g (5.3 oz) hazelnuts finely grounded

50 g (1,76 oz) almonds roughly grounded

50 g (1,76 oz) hazelnuts roughly grounded

100 g (3,5 oz) candied lemon peel

100 g (3,5 oz) candied orange peel

1,5 tsp cinnamon

grounded seeds of 9 cardamom pods

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 cloves, grounded

1 pckg. vanilla sugar

¼ tsp almond essence

12-15 oblates (very thin, paper like wafers)

Sugar Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

1.   Whisk eggs with sugar, honey, vanilla sugar until they become a pale and stiff cream.

2.   Fold in nuts, candied peels and spices.

3.   Heat the oven to 150°C (300°F).

4.   Arrange the oblates on a baking tray.

5.   Form little balls, about the size of a small clementine (I simply used an ice cream scoop), place them on the oblates, and flatten the scoops. The gingerbreads should be about 1 cm (0.6 in) thick.

6.   Bake for 25-30 minutes. (Don´t use the air circulation of the oven.) The gingerbreads should rather dry than bake and remain soft.

7. Remove from the oven and let cool. In the meantime mix the sugar glaze. Still warm, brush the gingerbreads with the glaze and let sit on an cooling rack until the glaze has firmed up completely.

Enjoy!

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