[Sca-cooks] OOP cookie help

[Huette von Ahrens]

--- Robert Downie <rdownie at mb.sympatico.ca>
wrote:
> I'm looking for a cookie (or similar) dough
> recipe that won't spread so it can
> be cut into large heart shapes without
> spreading in the oven - NOT shortbread
> though - we've done shortbread to death and are
> looking for a change.  Any
> suggestions?  We tried regular chocolate chip
> dough and it lost it's shape
> almost completely.
>
> Faerisa

Lebkuchen is period.  Here are some recipes from
Sabina Welserin, 1553.

151 To bake good Lebkuchen

Take first a pound of sugar, a quart of clear
honey, not quite a third quart of flour, take two
and a half ounces of cinnamon, one and a half
ounces of cloves, two ounces of cardamom. Cut the
other spices as small as possible, the cinnamon
sticks are ground as coarsely as possible. Also
put ginger therein and put the sugar into the
honey, let it cook together, put the flour in a
trough, pour the cardamom into it first,
afterwards the ginger and the other spices.

63 To make Nürnberger Lebkuchen

Take one quart of honey, put it into a large pan,
skim it well and let it boil a good while. Put
one and a half pounds of sugar into it and stir
it continually with a wooden spatula and let it
cook for a while, as long as one cooks an egg,
pour it hot into a quarter pound of flour, stir
it around slowly and put the described spices in
the dough, stir it around slowly and not too
long; take one and a half ounces of cinnamon
sticks, one and a half ounces of nutmeg, three
fourths of an ounce of cloves, three ounces of
ginger, a pinch of mace, and chop or grind each
one separately so that they are not too small,
the cinnamon sticks,
especially, should be coarsely ground. And when
you have put the spices in the dough, then let
the dough set for as long as one needs to hard
boil eggs. Dip the hands in flour and take a
small heap of dough, make balls out of it, weigh
them so that one is as heavy as the others, roll
them out with a rolling pin, and spread them out
smoothly by hand, the smoother the prettier.
After that dip the mold in rose water and open it
up. Take four ounces of dough for one Lebkuchen.
Be careful and get no flour in the molds or else
they will be no good, but on the board you can
put flour so that they do not stick to it. Let
them set overnight. And when you take them to the
baker, then see to it that you have another board
that is thoroughly sprinkled with flour, so that
it is very thickly covered. Put the board with
its covering of flour into the oven so that the
board is completely heated, the hotter the
better. Take it out afterwards and lay the
Lebkuchen on top, so that none touches the other,
put them in the oven, let them bake and look
after them frequently. At first they will become
soft as fat. If you take hold of them you can
feel it well. And when they become entirely dry,
then take them out and turn the board around, so
that the front part goes into the back of the
oven. Let it remain a short while, then take it
out. Take a small broom, brush the flour cleanly
away from the underside of the Lebkuchen and lay
the Lebkuchen, in the mean time, on the other
board, until you have brushed off the Lebkuchen,
one after the other, so that there is no more
flour on the bottoms. Afterwards sweep the flour
very cleanly from off the board. Lay the
Lebkuchen on top of it again, so that the bottom
is turned to the top. Take a bath sponge, dip it
in rose water, squeeze it out again, wash the
flour from the bottoms of the Lebkuchen. Be
careful that you do not leave any water on the
board, then they would stick to it. Afterwards
put the board with the Lebkuchen again in the
oven, until the bottoms rise nicely and become
hard, then take the board out again. See to it
that two or three [people] are by the board, who
can quickly turn the Lebkuchen over, or else they
will stick. Afterwards take rose water and wash
them on top with it as you have done on the
underside. Put them in the oven again, let them
become dry, carry them home and move them around
on the board, so that they do not stick. And when
they have completely cooled, then lay them eight
or ten, one upon the other, wrap them in paper
and store them in a dry place, see that no draft
comes therein, then they remain crisp.

164 To make a large Nürnberger Lebkuchen

Take a quart of honey and a quarter pound of
sugar, prepare it as for the smaller Lebkuchen,
take one quarter pound of flour and then the
spices as follows: one half ounce of cinnamon,
one ounce of cloves, one and three fourths ounces
of nutmeg, four ounces of ginger, one fourth
ounce of mace. Stir it carefully around,
afterwards roll the dough out somewhat. Bake it
as for the smaller Lebkuchen.


=====
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they
shall never cease to be amused.

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