Cookies from the city of Basel
Description
If a visit to Basel is not in your near future, you can still capture the aroma from Imbergasslein when you make these Basel style cookies at home.
Ingredients
1 Cup honey 1⁄2 Cup brown sugar 1 egg (beaten) 4 Teaspoon kirsch 3 Cup flour (wheat flour, 1/4 cup is for kneading) 1 1⁄2 Teaspoon baking powder 1 Teaspoon cinnamon (powder) 1⁄4 Teaspoon nutmeg (ground) 1⁄4 Teaspoon clove (ground) 1⁄4 Teaspoon ginger (powder) 1 Cup ground almonds 1 Tablespoon lemon peel (finely grated) 1⁄2 Cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Place honey and sugar into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over a medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, transfer to a large glass bow, and let cool for 20 minutes.
- Mix egg and 1 tsp kirsch into honey and sugar. Stirring to blend and a little at a time, add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Finally, mix in almonds and lemon peel and turn into smooth dough.
- Place dough onto a floured surface. Knead, adding in enough remaining flour, until the dough is soft and no longer sticky. Shape the cookie dough into a ball, wrap in plastic film. Chill in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- On a lightly floured sheet of aluminum foil or grease proof paper, roll dough into a rectangle of even thickness. Transfer grease proof paper and dough to a 10x15-inch baking sheet leaving 1-inch around for the dough to expand. Bake on the middle rack for about 15 minutes, or until top is golden brown and center springs back when lightly touched. Remove from oven.
- While the cookies are baking, mix the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon kirsch, or liquid for the glaze, in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to spread glaze over the warm cake.
- Lift paper with still warm cake to a cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares. Remove any remaining paper and leave them to cool.
Notes
These cookies taste great when they have been standing for a while. If you store them between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container for 3-4 days before serving, and compare them to ready made cookies, you will be able to tell the difference.
The Swiss name for these cookies is Basler leckerli.
Kirsch is a liquor used only for flavor. If you want to avoid it altogether, substitute 1 tsp kirsch with ¼ tsp almond extract. The amount of kirsch in the original recipe is much larger, as it is the main liquid used to form the dough, but it has already been substituted with beaten egg.
Ingredients, metric
225 g
honey
125 g
brown sugar
1
egg, beaten
5 ml
kirsch
300 g
whole wheat flour plus 50 g for kneading
1½ tsp
baking powder
1 tsp
ground cinnamon
¼ tsp
nutmeg
¼ tsp
ground cloves
¼ tsp
ground ginger
1 cup
finely ground almonds
1 Tbs
grated lemon peel
Glaze
1/2 cup
powdered sugar
1 Tbs
kirsch
Percent daily values based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.
Amount Per Serving
Calories
152.39
Calories From Fat (18%)
27.70
% Daily Value
Total Fat 3.28g
5%
Saturated Fat 0.33g
2%
Cholesterol 9.44mg
3%
Sodium 6.20mg
0%
Potassium 122.38mg
3%
Carbohydrates 29.46g
10%
Dietary Fiber 2.31g
9%
Sugar 19.09g
Sugar Alcohols 0.00g
Net Carbohydrates 27.15g
Protein 3.32g
7%
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Description
If a visit to Basel is not in your near future, you can still capture the aroma from Imbergasslein when you make these Basel style cookies at home.
Ingredients
| 1 | Cup | honey |
| 1⁄2 | Cup | brown sugar |
| 1 | egg (beaten) | |
| 4 | Teaspoon | kirsch |
| 3 | Cup | flour (wheat flour, 1/4 cup is for kneading) |
| 1 1⁄2 | Teaspoon | baking powder |
| 1 | Teaspoon | cinnamon (powder) |
| 1⁄4 | Teaspoon | nutmeg (ground) |
| 1⁄4 | Teaspoon | clove (ground) |
| 1⁄4 | Teaspoon | ginger (powder) |
| 1 | Cup | ground almonds |
| 1 | Tablespoon | lemon peel (finely grated) |
| 1⁄2 | Cup | powdered sugar |
Instructions
- Place honey and sugar into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over a medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, transfer to a large glass bow, and let cool for 20 minutes.
- Mix egg and 1 tsp kirsch into honey and sugar. Stirring to blend and a little at a time, add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Finally, mix in almonds and lemon peel and turn into smooth dough.
- Place dough onto a floured surface. Knead, adding in enough remaining flour, until the dough is soft and no longer sticky. Shape the cookie dough into a ball, wrap in plastic film. Chill in the fridge for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
- On a lightly floured sheet of aluminum foil or grease proof paper, roll dough into a rectangle of even thickness. Transfer grease proof paper and dough to a 10x15-inch baking sheet leaving 1-inch around for the dough to expand. Bake on the middle rack for about 15 minutes, or until top is golden brown and center springs back when lightly touched. Remove from oven.
- While the cookies are baking, mix the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon kirsch, or liquid for the glaze, in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to spread glaze over the warm cake.
- Lift paper with still warm cake to a cutting board. Cut into 2-inch squares. Remove any remaining paper and leave them to cool.
Notes
These cookies taste great when they have been standing for a while. If you store them between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container for 3-4 days before serving, and compare them to ready made cookies, you will be able to tell the difference.
The Swiss name for these cookies is Basler leckerli.
Kirsch is a liquor used only for flavor. If you want to avoid it altogether, substitute 1 tsp kirsch with ¼ tsp almond extract. The amount of kirsch in the original recipe is much larger, as it is the main liquid used to form the dough, but it has already been substituted with beaten egg.
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Find light and fantastic drinks, food with the feel-good factor, spice up your world.
Remarkable
If you visit Basel, try o find a picturesque street named Imbergasslein – or Ginger Lane – which will be easy to recognize when you get close by the spicy aroma filling the air even today. That was the place where a baker’s guild distinguished by creating new recipes experimented with the novel spice ingwer – ginger – some few hundred years ago, and produced what was probably the first gingerbread.
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