SC - Progress report on Lebkuchen

[Decker, Terry D.]

The modern Lebkuchen I've come across are all fairly soft.  Most commercial
Lebkuchen (the kind in the tin boxes) I've seen use a rice flour wafer for
the bottom of the cookie to help stiffen them and keep them intact.  The
traditional bakery fare is a 2 x 4 inch bar about 1/2 inch thick with a thin
sugar icing. 

While Lebkuchen is usually translated spice cookie or spice bar, I believe
the literal translation would be "lively cake."  

Bear

> The modern recipes I have seen for Lebkuchen all refer to a 
> spicy hard 
> cookie.  And many of the spices included are the same as is used to 
> make the medieval Lebkuchen.  So, I am thinking that the modern 
> Lebkuchen got its name from the spicy mixture which may have 
> originally 
> gone into it.  
> 
> Kateryn