Lebkuchen are traditional German Christmas cookies similar to gingerbread, which were probably invented by Medieval monks in Franconia, Germany in the 13th century. Lebkuchen bakers were recorded as early as 1296 in Ulm, and 1395 in Nuremberg, but today, the most famous Lebkuchen come from Nuremberg, from where they are exported all over the world.
Sometimes Lebkuchen are packaged in richly decorated nostalgic tins and boxes which have become collectors’ items. Lebkuchen range in taste from spicy to sweet and come in a variety of shapes with round being the most common. The ingredients usually include honey, spices and nuts, almonds or candied fruit. Salt of Hartshorn and Potash are often used for raising the dough. The Lebkuchen dough is often placed on a thin wafer base called Oblate. This was an idea of the monks who used communion wafers to prevent the dough from sticking.
The forerunner of today’s Lebkuchen was called “honey cake” and its history can be traced back to the Egyptians, the Greek and the Romans. They believed honey, the only widely available very sweet food, was a gift of the gods and had magical and healing powers. Honey cakes were also worn as a talisman in battle or as protection against evil spirits. Teutonic peoples used honey cakes for the same purpose especially around the winter solstice, which might be the reason Lebkuchen became associated with Christmas.
Since 1808, Nuremberg gingerbread of the best quality is called Elisenlebkuchen. It is uncertain whether the name Elise refers to the daughter of a gingerbread baker or the wife of a margrave. Since 1996, Nürnberger Lebkuchen is a Protected Designation of Origin.
Lebkuchen are usually soft, but a very hard and generally inedible type of Lebkuchen is used to produce Lebkuchen hearts, usually inscribed with icing, which are available at many German fairs and the witch houses made popular by Hansel and Gretel. The closest German equivalent of the gingerbread man is the Honigkuchenpferd (honey cake horse).
The etymology of the term Lebkuchen is uncertain, but derivations from the Latin libum (flat bread) and from the Germanic word Laib (loaf) have been proposed. Folk etymology often associates it with Leben (life), and many people in Germany seem to think that eating it is a good cure against winter depression.
Historically, Lebkuchen was also known as honey cake (Honigkuchen) and pepper cake (Pfefferkuchen).
Gingerbread
Gingerbread is a sweet that can take the form of a cake or a cookie in which the predominant flavor is ginger.
As a cookie, gingerbread can be made into a thin, crisp cookie (often called a ginger snap) or a softer cookie similar to the German Lebkuchen. Gingerbread cookies are often cut into shapes, particularly gingerbread men.
A variant dough is used to make gingerbread houses à la the “witch’s house” encountered by Hansel and Gretel. These, covered with a variety of candies and icing, are a common Christmas decoration.
Another variant uses a boiled dough that can be moulded like clay to form inedible statuettes or other decorations. A significant form of popular art in Europe, major centers of gingerbread mould carving included Lyon, Nürnberg, Pesth, Prague, Ulm, and Toruń. Gingerbread moulds often displayed the “news”, showing carved portraits of new kings, emperors, and queens, for example. Substantial mould collections are held at the Ethnographic Museum in Toruń, Poland and the Bread Museum in Ulm, Germany.
The cake form tends to be a dense, treaclely (molasses-based) spice cake. Some recipes add mustard, pepper, raisins, nuts, and/or other spices/ingredients to the batter.
Originally, the term gingerbread (from Latin zingiber via Old French gingebras) referred to preserved ginger, then to a confection made with honey and spices.
Gingerbread is also an architectural term for highly decorated Victorian houses.
Pizzelle
A pizzelle is a traditional Italian cookie made from flour, eggs, sugar, butter (or vegetable oil), and flavoring (often vanilla, anise, or lemon zest).
The cookie dough or batter is put into a pizzelle iron, which resembles a waffle iron. The pizzelle iron is held by hand over a hot burner on the stovetop, although some models are electric and require no stove. Typically, the iron stamps a snowflake pattern onto both sides of this thin, golden-brown cookie, which has a crisp texture once it is cooled.
Pizzelles are popular during Christmas and Easter.
Pizzelle Recipe. Melt 2 sticks of butter in a small saucepan. Beat 6 eggs in a large bowl and add 2 tablespoons of vanilla (or anise) flavoring. Add 1-1/2 cups sugar to the egg mixture and beat well. After butter has melted, allow to cool slightly and then add to egg and sugar mixture. Sift in 3-1/2 cups flour and 2 teaspoons baking powder into the wet mixture, making sure all flour is completely mixed into a stiff batter. Bake using pizzelle iron. Makes approx. 60 cookies.
Sugar Cookie
A sugar cookie is a cookie usually made with butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla. In the mid-1700s, German Protestant settlers in the Nazareth area of Pennsylvania perfected the recipe of the sugar cookie; thus, the sugar cookie is sometimes referred to as the Nazareth Sugar Cookie. On September 5, 2001, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania adopted the sugar cookie as its official cookie.
While other types of cookies, such as the chocolate chip cookie, are usually baked and consumed in circle form, these cookies can be rolled out and cut into shapes with cookie cutters, as well as decorated with sugar sprinkles or icing. Sugar cookies, like most other cookies, are baked until crisp, although some people prefer them to be soft and chewy.
Companies such as General Mills offer quick sugar cookie mixes under brand names such as Betty Crocker, which generally only need to have eggs and/or water added to them to be completed.
Traditionally in the United States, since the 1930’s, children leave cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas eve. Often sugar cookies are cut into various holiday shapes (candy canes, reindeer, and holly leaves being a few). Oreos are also popular. Several cookies are set out on Christmas Eve with a cup of milk for Santa.
Beyond this, a wide variety of cookies are made at Christmas time, based on local or family traditions and individual preferences.
Christmas (Plum) Pudding
Christmas pudding is the dessert traditionally served on Christmas day in Britain and Ireland, as well as in some Commonwealth countries. It has its origins in England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving a lot of dried fruit.
Christmas puddings are often dried out on hooks for weeks prior to serving in order to enhance the flavour. This pudding has been prepared with a traditional cloth rather than a basin.
Fruitcake
Fruitcake is a heavy cake made of dried or candied fruits and nuts that are soaked in brandy or rum, often used in the celebration of weddings and Christmas.
The earliest recipe from ancient Rome lists pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, and raisins that were mixed into barley mash.
In the Middle Ages, honey, spices, and preserved fruits were added and the name fruitcake was first used. Robert Sietsema finds that inexpensive sugar from the American Colonies and the discovery that high concentrations of sugar could preserve fruits created an excess of candied fruit. The fruitcake was the way to use them.
In the 18th century, Europeans were baking fruitcakes using nuts from the harvest for good luck in the following year. The cake was saved and eaten before the next harvest. Fruitcakes proliferated until a law in Europe restricted them to Christmas, weddings, and a few other holidays. Even so, the fruitcake remained popular at Victorian Teas in England throughout the 19th century.
Mail-order fruitcakes began in 1913. The management of Ringling Brothers Circus liked the fruitcake from Collin Street Bakery, a local bakery in Corsicana, Texas. They ordered them as gifts to be mailed to friends around the country. Collin Street Bakery, using the old European recipe of baker Gus Weidmann and salesman Tom McElwee, grew quickly, and have shipped their fruitcakes to nearly 200 countries worldwide and numerous multi-national corporations and famous individuals.
The modern fruitcakes are fundamentally butter cakes, with just enough dough to bind the fruit. The cakes are saturated with liqueurs or brandy, and covered in powdered sugar, both of which prevent mold. Brandy or wine-soaked linens are used to store the fruitcakes. Many people feel fruitcakes improve with age. Some cakes have been eaten 25 years after baking.
Fruitcake in Popular Culture
The fruitcake has become one of the most ridiculed desserts and the butt of many jokes centered on its heaviness and long shelf life.
Former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson joked that “there really is only one fruitcake in the world.” It is passed from family to family—a joke also frequently attributed to the writer Calvin Trillin, who denies being the source. Trillin says he was just passing along a theory he “had heard from someone in Denver”. He continues, “There is nothing dangerous about fruitcakes as long as people send them along without eating them.” The Fruitcake Lady makes appearances with current host Jay Leno where she offers her “fruitcake” opinions.
For the last nine years about 500 people show up in Manitou Springs, Colorado each January for the Great Fruitcake Toss. “We encourage the use of recycled fruitcakes”, says Leslie Lewis of the Manitou Springs Chamber of Commerce. The all-time Great Fruitcake Toss record is 420 feet.
Fruitcake is also used, especially in the United Kingdom, as insulting slang for a “crazy person” (e.g. “he’s a complete fruitcake”). It dervies from the expression “nutty as a fruitcake”, which was first recorded in 1935.
Mince Pie
A mince pie is a traditional British sweet pastry, usually consumed during the Christmas and New Year period. These small pies, usually between 2 and 3 inches in diameter (5 - 7.5 centimetres), can be made using either sweet shortcrust pastry or puff pastry.
In the past, the mincemeat might have actually contained meat, but this would be highly unusual in a modern mince pie. The filling is nowadays made from fruit mincemeat (fruitmince to North Americans) containing dried fruit such as raisins, currants, cherries, apricot, candied peel; spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg; nuts such as walnuts or chopped almonds; suet; and some kind of alcohol, usually either brandy or rum. Although no longer a meat pie, the mince pie is suitable for vegetarians only if the suet is made from vegetable oil.
Once cooked, the pie is finished off with a delicate dusting of either caster sugar or icing sugar on top. Mince pies can be consumed hot or cold (although be careful if you heat one up using a microwave oven, as they can get very hot very quickly). When hot, the top can be gently eased off, and a dash of cream or brandy butter (or maybe even a thin slice of cheese if you are so inclined) added to gently melt and enhance the flavour.
Folklore & Traditions
Folklore states that mince pies are a favourite food of Father Christmas, and that one or two should be left on a plate at the foot of the chimney (along with a small glass of brandy or sherry, and a carrot for the reindeer) as a thank-you for stockings well-filled.
English tradition demands that the mince meat mixture should only be stirred in a clockwise direction. To stir it anticlockwise is to bring bad luck for the coming year.
Yule Log
Log-shaped cakes, also known as “chocolate yule logs” are made for dessert on Christmas to resemble the Yule Log burning on the fire.
Stollen
Stollen is a bread-like cake traditionally made in Germany, usually eaten during the Christmas season as Weihnachtsstollen or Christstollen. Stollen (originally Striezel) was created in Dresden in around 1450, and the most famous Stollen is still the Dresdner Stollen, sold, among other places, at the local Striezelmarkt Christmas market.
Stollen is a light airy fruitcake made with yeast, water and flour, and usually dried citrus peel, dried fruit, almonds, and spices such as cardamom and cinnamon; the dough is quite low in sugar. The finished cake is sprinkled with icing sugar. The traditional weight is 2kg, but smaller sizes are now available.
History
The old name Striezel was from strüzel or stroczel, “awaken” (Old Prussian: troskeilis), which came to mean “loaf of bread”. The shape of the cake was originally meant to represent the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes, and was one of a number of baked goods created to represent aspects of the Crucifixion: the pretzel represented Jesus’ bonds, and the (holeless) doughnut (Pfannkuchen) represented the sponge given to Jesus on the cross. However, the Stollen reminded Erzgebirge miners of the entrance to a mine tunnel, which is the literal meaning of Stollen, and they renamed it.
When Stollen was first baked, the ingredients were very different. The Advent season was a time of fasting, and bakers were not allowed to use butter, only oil, so the cake was tasteless and hard. In 1647, Prince Elector Ernst and his brother Duke Albrecht decided to remedy this by writing to the then Pope, Pope Innocent X. They explained that Saxon bakers needed to use butter as oil was so expensive and hard to come by, and had to be made from turnips, which was unhealthy. The Pope granted the use of butter without having to pay a fine - but only for the Prince-Elector and his family and household. In 1691 AD others were also permitted to use butter, but with the condition of having to pay annually 1/20th of a gold Gulden to support the building of the Freiberg Cathedral. The ban on butter was removed when Saxony became Protestant.
Over the centuries the cake changed from being a simple, fairly tasteless “bread” to a sweeter cake with richer ingredients such as marzipan, although the traditional Stollen is today still not as sweet as the copies made around the world.
Stollen Today
Today the cake is available in many parts of the world. The true Dresden Stollen, however, is produced in the city and distinguished by a special seal depicting the city’s famous king, August the Strong. This “official” Stollen is produced by only 150 bakers.
Every year in Dresden a Stollenfest takes place. This recent tradition has taken place only since 1994, but the idea comes from the days of August the Strong in the 18th century: the king loved pomp and feasts, and in 1730 impressed his subjects with a giant 1.7-tonne Stollen big enough for everyone to have a portion. Today the festival takes place on the Saturday before the second Advent Sunday, and the cake weighs between three and four tonnes. A carriage takes it in a parade through the streets of Dresden to the Christmas market, where it is ceremoniously cut into pieces and distributed among the crowd, for a small sum which goes to charity. The largest Stollen was baked in 2000: it weighed 4.2 tonnes and is in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Panettone
Panettone is a typical cake of Milan, Italy, usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas, and one of the symbols of the town.
It has a cupola shape and is usually about 30 cm high. It is made of a soft, incompletely-cooked dough containing candies and raisins. It is served in slices, vertically cut, accompanied with sweet hot beverages or a sweet wine, such as spumante or moscato.
The most famous producers were Motta, Bauli, Alemagna and Le tre Marie; at the beginning of 20th century, the name Motta was synonymous with panettone.
The production techniques have been modified in view of recent European regulations on food, as its traditional preparation requires that its dough not be completely cooked and that its raisins are to ferment. The taste is therefore now different compared to that of traditional panettone.
Rum Balls
Rum balls are a very tasty sweet treat, small little balls of soft chocolate goodness, flavoured with rum. Rum balls are a popular Christmas snack in Australia and New Zealand.
A typical Australian recipe calls for crushed Arrowroot biscuits (similar to British “Rich Tea”), dark rum, chocolate, cocoa, condensed milk and a coating of coconut. The texture should be smooth.
Marzipan
Marzipan is a confectionery consisting primarily of ground almonds and sugar that derives its characteristic flavor from bitter almonds, which constitute 4% to 6% of total almond content by weight. Most marzipan is also flavored with rosewater.
Believed to have originated in Persia (present-day Iran), marzipan became a specialty of the Baltic Sea region of Germany. In particular, the city of Lübeck has a proud tradition of marzipan manufacture. The city’s manufacturers like Niederegger still guarantee their Marzipan to contain two thirds almonds by weight, which results in a juicy, bright yellow product.
Today under the laws European Union, marzipan must have a minimum almond oil content of 14% and a maximum moisture content of 8.5%. Optional additional ingredients are rosewater, honey, pistachios and preservatives. In the U.S., marzipan must include at least a quarter almonds by weight, otherwise it is considered to be almond paste.
It is often made into sweets: two common uses are marzipan-filled chocolate and small marzipan imitations of fruits and vegetables. It is also rolled into thin sheets and glazed for icing cakes and is traditionally used in wedding cakes, Christmas cakes, and stollen. In some countries marzipan is shaped into small figures of animals, such as pigs, is a traditional treat for New Year’s Day.
Marzipan is also used in Tortell, and sometimes in some versions king cake, eaten during the Carnival season.
In Italy, Marzipan is often shaped and painted with food colorings to resemble fruit, especially during the Christmas season.
The German name has completely ousted the former English name marchpane with the same apparent derivation: “March bread.” Marzapane is documented earlier in Italian than in any other language, and the sense “bread” for pan is Romance. However, the ultimate etymology is unclear; for example, the Italian word derives from a Middle Latin word meaning “small box” and originally having the meaning of a coin on which a figure of a seated Christ was imprinted. Among the other possible etymologies set forth in the Oxford English Dictionary, one theory posits that the word “marzipan” may however be a corruption of Martaban, a Burmese city famous for its jars.
Joulupöytä
Joulupöytä is the name of the traditional food board served at Christmas in Finland. It contains many different dishes, most of them typical for the season. The main dish is usually a large Christmas ham, which is eaten with mustard or bread along with the other dishes. Fish is also served (often lutefisk and gravlax), and with the ham there are also so-called “laatikot”, casseroles with liver and raisins or potatoes or rice and carrots. The traditional Christmas beverage is either alcoholic or non-alcoholic mulled wine (”glögi” in Finnish).
Opłatek
Opłatek (plural : opłatki) is an Eastern European Christmas tradition celebrated in Polish, Slovak and Lithuanian families during Wigilia (Christmas Eve Vigil). Family members and friends break off a small piece of the large, square opłatek wafer and give it to one another along with a blessing. “The Opłatki custom which originated in Poland, was also adopted by the people of Lithuania and the Czech and Slovak peoples, and has made its way into countless other households which find its rich symbolism an adaptable annual custom of profound meaning.”
A sample blessing: “I wish you much health, happiness and the Lord’s bountiful blessings as well as the fulfillment of all your plans and everything you wish for yourself.”
The unleavened wafers are baked from pure wheat flour and water and often embossed with religious images.
Pinnekjøtt
Pinnekjøtt (literally “stick meat”) is a traditional Christmas dish in the western parts of Norway. Pinnekjøtt is salted and sometimes smoked lamb’s ribs which are steamed, usually, but not necessarily, over birch branches, and served with mashed swede, potato and gravy.
Though still mostly served in the western parts of the country (”Vestlandet”), pinnekjøtt is gaining popularity in other parts of Norway, too.
It is unclear if the dish originally got its name “stick meat” from the birch sticks used in the steaming process, or because of the visual nature of the individual rib bones. However, it is common to call the individual ribs “pinner” (”sticks”), so that is perhaps the most obvious interpretation.
Smalahove
Smalahove (or smalehovud) is a Norwegian traditional dish, usually eaten around and before Christmas time, made from a sheep’s head. The skin and fleece of the head is torched and the head is salted and dried. The head is boiled and served with mashed rutabaga and potatoes.
In 2001 an European Union directive forbade the production of smalahove from sheep, due to fear of the possibility of transmission of scrapie, a deadly, degenerative prion disease of sheep and goats, even though scrapie does not appear to be transmissible to humans. It is now only allowed to be produced from lamb heads.
Knäck
Knäck is a traditional Swedish toffee prepared at Christmas.
A common recipe is equal parts (typically 0.3 litres) of whipping cream (not whipped), sugar and pale syrup. It is also common to add some butter (a few tablespoons). One can also add one or two teaspoons of vanilla sugar or about 0.1 kg of peeled and finely chopped almonds. Put all the ingredients except for the almonds in a heavy based saucepan and stir until the sugar has melted. Let it boil for a while. The mix can be tested by spooning a few drops of it into a glass of water. It should be chewy, but not too hard. Then add the almonds and pour the mixture in waxed paper cones and leave to cool.
Tourtière
A tourtière is a meat pie originating from Quebec, usually made with ground pork and/or veal, or beef. It is a traditional Christmas and New Year’s Eve dish in Quebec, but is also enjoyed and sold in grocery stores all year long. This kind of pie is known as pâté à la viande (literally, meat pie) in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region. Tourtière is not exclusive to the province of Québec. Tourtière is a traditional French-Canadian dish served by generations of French-Canadian families througout Canada, including the provinces of New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba.
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