GRANDMA DIER'S LAAB COOKIES Recipe
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Category: |
Category: |
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Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 8 eggs
2 lbs. light brown sugar
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 tsp. ground cloves
2 tsp.baking soda
7 c. all-purpose flour
2 c. chopped walnuts
Glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup milk
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Directions: |
Directions:
With a heavy duty mixer, in a large bowl, beat eggs at medium speed for 2 or 3 minutes. Gradually add the brown sugar, the spices and soda, and continue beating until the sugar is dissolved and the batter thickens. This will take 8 to 10 minutes.
On low speed, add some of the flour. Switch to dough hook and slowly knead in remaining flour and nuts.
On a lightly floured countertop, or parchment paper, turn cookie dough out. Dough will be sticky. With floured hands, form the dough into 3 or 4 cylinders about 2 inches in diameter. Allow dough to rest several hours or overnight. The original directions say to cover with kitchen towel, but I prefer to wrap the cylinders in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325º. With a sharp knife, slice dough about 3/8 inch thick. Place cookies cut-side down, 2” apart, on lightly greased cookie sheet. (Cookies will rise and spread during baking, I usually put 9 cookies on a standard size sheet.) Unbaked cookies will have the size, shape and color of baked biscotti.
Using a pastry brush, cover cookie tops with a thin coating of confectioners’ sugar glaze before baking. Bake on rack in center of oven for 14 to 16 minutes. Remove to cooling racks to cool completely. When cool, store in tins or other air-tight containers. To keep cookies a bit softer, store with a slice of bread.
(This makes a big batch of cookies; the recipe can easily be halved.) |
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Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: This is my Swiss-German Grandmother’s recipe that has been in the family since the early 1900’s. This is the only cookie I remember my Grandma making, year around, but I typically make them around the Christmas holidays, and for family birthdays.
My second-cousins thought the recipe from their childhood favorite “Lebkuchen” was lost forever when their mother/aunt died. A chance meeting lead to a discussion of family cookie making, and she was thrilled to hear that I had a copy of Grandma’s cookie recipe. Of course, like many old recipes, there were no specific measurements or weights listed, especially for important items like sugar and flour. Therefore, the results were often varied and not always good.
Once I reworked the recipe and sent them to my second-cousin, she and her sisters got together for a cookie making day. She said it brought back and a smell and taste they thought was gone forever. I was so happy to share my recipe so that it could remain a family tradition and favorite. Their Aunt Erma used to make these cookies for them, and although she always promised lessons, the only thing she ever shared were less-than-accurate recipes. The recipe she had given out had more flour, no soda, double the nuts, and was baked at a higher temperature, producing miniature “hockey pucks”.
I hope you enjoy these cookies made from the real recipe!
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