Hello everybody,

The Christmas cookies series is continuing with a delicious Swiss gingerbread! This is another bredele that you will find in Alsace during Christmas and another favorite of mine. Leckerli is originally a gingerbread from Bâle in Switzerland that traveled all the way to Alsace where it also became a traditional Christmas cookie.

This gingerbread isn’t like others as it counts among its ingredients honey, almonds and candied peels which make it so flavorful and unique. I love how dense but soft this gingerbread is and the light icing on top adds even more sweetness to it which is perfect for the sweet tooth that I am. This bredele is another must try during the holidays!

Let’s start baking!

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Ingredients:

• 150 g/ 1+1/4 cups ground almonds
• 30 g/ 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 450 g/ 1+1/3 cups honey (I used buckwheat honey)
• 180 g/ 2/3 cups sugar
• 90 g/ 1 cup candied orange and lemon peels (check out the recipe here)
• 450 g/ 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp gingerbread spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 100 g/1/2 cup +3 tbsp icing sugar
• 3 tbsp kirsch or water

Preparation:

1- Add the honey and sugar in a pot and heat over medium heat. Cook until the mixture starts foaming and pour into a mixing bowl.

2- Dice the candied peels and add to the mixing bowl, then add the sliced almonds and ground almonds.

3- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and gingerbread spice. Once mixed, add into the other mixing bowl (with the mixture of honey and sugar). Mix well until the dough is homogeneous. The dough will be very tough and sticky but don’t worry this is normal.

4- Preheat oven at 170 C/ 340 F. Place parchemin paper on a cookie sheet. Pour the dough on it and place another piece of parchemin paper on top, then roll with a rolling pin until the dough has spread all over the cookie sheet. Remove the parchemin paper on top and bake for 20-25 min.

5- Let the gingerbread cool down and in the mean time, prepare the icing by mixing the icing sugar with kirsch or water for a non-alcoholic version. Once the gingerbread is at room temperature, brush it with the icing and let it dry. Then cut the gingerbread into cubes of about 2 inches each and place in a metal tin. Attention: the cutting step will require some strength as the gingerbread is quite dense.

This gingerbread is one of my favorite as it is so flavorful and chewy. I love the addition of the candied peels which add extra flavor!

I hope you will enjoy this recipe! Let me know in the comment section what you think about this recipe and if you liked it.

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