Laura Ingalls Wilder's gingerbread!

[ewein2412]

http://www.hbook.com/history/letters/wilder_1953_letter.asp

We made it last night. I baked it at 375 F (160 C in my fan oven) for 55 minutes, nearly twice as long as the directions advise, but it's WONDERFUL! More clove-y than gingery, we all agree, and if I were to make it again I'd probably substitute another teaspoon of ginger for the teaspoon of allspice. It made two loaves.

It is 9.15 a.m.--the sun is just coming up. (It is true that official sunrise here was 8.41 a.m., but it takes another half an hour to clear the hills across the valley).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY sdn! I am eating Christmas tree Peeps in your honor.

Comments

[deliasherman.livejournal.com]

That recipe looks wonderful. I'll add it to my trove of gingerbread recipes, and make it soon.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I must try that one ;o) (I love gingerbread).

[tiboribi.livejournal.com]

I have added it to my evergrowing list of gingerbread recipes. I have never actually made gingerbread (I don't count the boxes from Trader Joe's), but I want to, someday.

[estara.livejournal.com]

Nothing can top Nürnberger Lebkuchen, so I don't even try.


http://www.germany-tourism.de/ENG/culture_and_events/christmas_markets_offers.htm?op=getBrauchtum
http://www.bayerischer-wald-ferien.de/assets/images/nurnberg-christkindlesmarkt-nurnberger-lebkuchen-original.jpg

[ewein2412]

they have an outdoor German Market set up in Edinburgh every year and I always have to go and stock up on Lebkuchen and pretzels and little candles for my various german whirly ornaments. My background is Pennsylvania German so we have some similar foods and traditions... nothing exactly matches but it SMELLS right, you know?

[estara.livejournal.com]

Actually I envy you this guy: Best producer: Falko Konditormeister | Life and style | The Observer (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/mar/25/foodanddrink.features16), because a really excellent Konditormeister who also bakes bread is unheard of as a combination over here, and you only get the really good Konditormeisters in big cities. We do have cafés that make their own sweets and cakes, but they're.... not really at the standard the pattissier in a well-known hotel has.
Not to mention that I find his story inspiring ^^.

If you're Pennsylvania German, can you speak Suebian German? The Amish are Pennsylvania Dutch aren't they?

My mum does her own Nürnberger Lebkuchen but I have to say I prefer the ones sold by the big Lebkuchen specialist companies, mum's are so heavy on the stomach.

Have you got a Schwibbogen (http://www.erzgebirge-ganznah.de/erzgebirge_geschenke/default.php/cPath/48_238_246), too?

[estara.livejournal.com]

This is his website:
Falko Konditormeister (http://www.foodwithlust.com/)

[ewein2412]

I have never even HEARD of this guy, but I am sure I've bought stuff from him! I will be on the lookout for him next week. We're hoping to go into E'bgh (it's about 45 minutes away) for the day. Last year the weather was so atrocious on the day we went in that the whole market and Frost Fair was closed.

no, we haven't got a schwibbogen, but i have been mighty tempted by them.

We are actually Pennsylvania Dutch but it comes from Deutsch and is so confusing to people that I just say German, because they/we are German and not Dutch. In actual fact I think my "German" ancestors are mostly from Switzerland--in the 17th/18th century. My grandmother lives in the middle of Amish country! Her family is Lutheran, not Amish-- i think what the Amish would call "Gay Dutch"-- there are a few lingering "Pennsylvania Dutch" words in my vocab--which I understand to be Old High German???--passed down from my great-grandother, but I don't think even she was a fluent speaker. It's possible the previous generation was, but now you're talking mid-19th century!

[estara.livejournal.com]

@1st: Heh! From what I gathered in those reviews about him you practically have to have bought any German bread you can get in Edinburgh from him. And since he's a Konditormeister I expect he does do Lebkuchen at Christmas even though it's not a traditional Suebian Christmas custom. All the reviews point out how expensive he is, though!

@2: I wished for an electric one for one Christmas and got it, and I really enjoy putting it into my window during Advent.

@3: Lingering words... that sounds like the few phrases of East Prussian dialect (a dead language now) which my grandma and my mum taught me for everyday household objects and such. It was one of the nicest German dialects I think.. A few years back you could buy LPs with some traditional stories read in the tongue and it was just very homey...

[ewein2412]

what's kind of amazing about Pennsylvanian German is that the Amish still speak it as their first language. You hear it in the farmers' markets and they run their own schools in German!

[estara.livejournal.com]

If they are as consequent in their way of life as they seem to be, then I would expect that. It's still amazing, though.

[marguerlucy.livejournal.com]

It's funny, as soon as I heard about the snow we're getting, all I could think about was the "maple sugar" they make in Little House in the Big Woods, and how I always wanted to try it and never did. I think this year I might. I feel certain it will probably disappoint, ha!! But I'm going for it. Woohoo!

[ewein2412]

did it work?