november | december 2019 108
D
eep in the heart of Bavaria, Germany, the snowy cobblestone
streets of Nuremberg come to life every holiday season
as locals and tourists visit the bustling alleys of theChristkindlesmarkt, Nuremberg’s world-renowned holiday market.
Among the labyrinth of rustic wooden stalls, market-goers purchase
everything from steaming plates of bratwurst to artisanal ceramics, but
one holiday treat reigns supreme: lebkuchen. Packed with honey, black
pepper, cocoa, and all manner of warm winter spices, these centuries-
old cookies may be native to Nuremberg, but they’ve become a global
holiday staple.
Descended from honey cakes baked by the ancient Egyptians and
Romans, lebkuchen as we know them today date back to the Middle
Ages. In the 13th century, monks living in Franconia—the German
medieval kingdom where Nuremberg stands today—revamped
the ancients’ recipe. The result was a tender, palm-size cookie that’s
packed with cocoa, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cardamom, ginger, and
aniseed. They topped the cookie with blanched almonds and covered it
in a boozy glaze, both toppings still seen in the modern lebkuchen we
enjoy today. Often compared to gingerbread, lebkuchen differs in that
it is made with little to no traditional fl our, instead calling for almond
or walnut fl our. Unlike gingerbread, which uses molasses and sugar as
the sweetener, lebkuchen calls for honey only.
Lebkuchen didn’t have its big break until 1487 when Emperor Frederick
III, the leader of the Holy Roman Empire, traveled to Nuremberg and
fell in love with the city and its sweets. In an attempt to win over its
people, the emperor organized an event inviting 4,000 children to feast
on lebkuchen. The catch? The lebkuchen were imprinted with his
portrait. However transparent this public relations campaign was, it
was a huge success. Lebkuchen went viral, so to speak. Bakers across
Nuremberg devoted their careers to baking the cakey cookies and
united in 1643 to form the League of Lebkuchen-Bakers. Setting the
standards by which all lebkuchen were made, the trade guild named
their recipe Nürnberger lebkuchen (Nuremberg lebkuchen). Also
sometimes referred to as pfefferkuchen, meaning “pepper cakes,” or
Elisenlebkuchen—said to be named after a lebkuchen maker’s daughter—
lebkuchen go by this name still today.It didn’t take long for word to get out to the rest of Europe that
Nuremberg was baking up an irresistible spiced treat. Struck by a
spirit of entrepreneurship, lebkuchen bakers took their Nürnberger
lebkuchen to an international level and industrialized production in- Demand skyrocketed. Lebkuchen was a holiday staple from the
lush Bavarian valleys to France’s western shores. By the turn of the
20th century, the city was turning out about a million dollars’
worth of lebkuchen every year, most of which was sold in
foreign markets as far as the United States.