One of our favorite, and closely observed, traditions during the holiday season is making honey lebkuchen, an old German recipe passed down through the generations in my wife's family.
The recipe we use, and follow religiously, is her great great grandmother's. The cookies are always mixed and made right after Thanksgiving, since they need to season in tins for several weeks (although tasting along the way is, of course, mandatory to ensure quality).
My wife and I have been making these every year since we have been married (29 years), which, given the recipe makes about 15 dozen, is one heckuva lot of cookies (well over 5000). Our kids have helped with some of the tasks every year since they were quite young, like putting the almonds on the cookies before they are baked, and glazing them when they come out of the oven, and continue to help if they are around even as young adults. We'll see if they continue the tradition.
Now there is a bit of competition surrounding these cookies. Other family members (my wife's brothers and sister) make them as well, so there is a good deal of friendly banter back and forth about whose are the best. Cookies are shared to prove the case.
It goes without saying that OURS are the best. They just are, hands down, no contest. No matter what my older brother-in-claims. He seems to feel, wrongly, that because he and his wife have been making them for 35 years that theirs are better. Not so. We have tasted them, and they ours, and there is no doubt - ours are best. My brother-in-law has delusions of grandeur.
The other thing they do is cut corners sometimes. That just isn't allowed.
- They have used lemon juice in the glaze instead of lemon extract. Bad move
- They also tried powdered buttermilk - ugh
- Oh, and the cardamom? They have used powdered, rather than buying the cardamom seeds and shelling and pulverizing them as they should
- Besides that, they cut theirs too small and the shape is more square than diamond.
Some people just have no respect for following the rules. We told them great great grandmother shudders every time they make their cookies. Still, they persist in their belief that ours just don't quite measure up to theirs. No worries - we know they are wrong. The proof is in the cookies. OURS are best!
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