Recipe: Kathrin Dellago's Lebkuchen

Growing up in the Dolomite mountains in Northern Italy, Kathrin Dellago grew up watching her grandmother bake Lebkuchen every year for Christmas. Now, Kathrin runs a cooking blog, Come And Cook With Us.

Kathrin writes:

"Take away the snow, take away the Christmas tree, but don’t expect to celebrate the holidays without some Lebkuchen. They are one of the classic Austrian/German holiday cookies and a great crowd pleaser. In fact, they are my favorite. My mom’s recipe is short on ginger, but long on other spices such as allspice, cinnamon and ground cloves. And they are made of 100% rye flour."

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup rye flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp honey
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
A pinch each of allspice, cinnamon, ground clover, ground ginger (optional)
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Instructions
Mix all ingredients until well combined and rolled into a ball.
Cover and let stand for at least three hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 360 degrees F.
Knead dough again and roll to slightly less than 1/2 inch thickness.
Cut out cookies and bake on cookie sheet between 10 to 15 minutes. They can still be a little soft in the middle as they finish baking as they cool.