Berner Haselnusslebkuchen facts for kids
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| Type | Lebkuchen |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Switzerland |
| Region or state | Berne |
| Main ingredients | Hazelnuts, almonds, sugar, honey, cinnamon, candied lemon and orange peel, egg whites |
The Berner Haselnusslebkuchen (say: BEAR-ner HAH-zel-noos-LEB-koo-ken) is a special kind of Lebkuchen. These are traditional Christmas cakes or cookies from Berne, Switzerland. They are mostly made from ground hazelnuts. Don't mix them up with Berner Honiglebkuchen, which is another sweet treat from Berne!
Contents
What are Berner Haselnusslebkuchen Made Of?
These tasty treats are made from a mix of roasted and ground hazelnuts. They also contain a small amount of ground almonds. Other ingredients include sugar, honey, and cinnamon. You'll also find candied lemon and orange peel in them. All these ingredients are held together with egg white.
How are Berner Haselnusslebkuchen Made?
The dough for Berner Haselnusslebkuchen is quite special. It doesn't need water or flour. The natural oils from the hazelnuts help the dough stick together. Bakers need a lot of skill when grinding the hazelnuts. If they grind them too much, the hazelnut oils can separate. This would make the Lebkuchen hard and dry after baking.
Shaping and Baking the Treats
The hazelnut dough is rolled out to be about 12 millimeters (0.47 in) thick. Bakers often cut the dough into rectangular pieces. Sometimes, they press these pieces into a mold shaped like a bear. The bear is a symbol of Berne. They might also use cookie cutters shaped like bears or Santa Claus. Smaller rectangular pieces are called Leckerli.
After shaping, the Lebkuchen are left to dry for a few hours. This drying time helps a thin crust form on the surface. Then, they are baked at 200 °C (392 °F) for about 10 to 15 minutes. A well-made Haselnusslebkuchen should be crunchy on the outside. But it should still be soft and moist on the inside. Sometimes, they are decorated with icing, hazelnuts, or almonds.
The History of Haselnusslebkuchen
The first mention of a sweet similar to Haselnusslebkuchen was in 1835. It was in a cookbook called Neues Berner Kochbuch by Lina Rytz. This early version still had some flour in it.
How the Recipe Changed Over Time
During the 1800s and early 1900s, many Bernese cookbooks had recipes for Haselnussleckerli. This shows that these sweets were first made as small Leckerli. The larger rectangular shapes became popular later, in the second half of the 1900s. The name Haselnusslebkuchen was first used in a baker's guide in 1946.
When and Where to Find Them
Lebkuchen were always seen as a special gift or holiday treat. This is because ingredients like hazelnuts and sugar used to be very expensive. Most working-class people in Berne couldn't afford sugar until the late 1800s. Today, bakers all over the canton of Berne still make Haselnusslebkuchen in December. In the city of Berne, you can buy them all year round. This is because many tourists enjoy them.
