Author Notes
Plan ahead! Once mixed, the dough needs to rest and develop flavor for 1 to 2 days before it's baked.
Reprinted with permission from Dorie's Cookies (Houghton Mifflin, 2016). —Dorie Greenspan
Ingredients
- For the cookies
-
2/3 cup
(160ml) honey
-
1/2 cup
(100g) sugar
-
1/2 cup
candied orange peel, homemade or store-bought, finely chopped
-
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
-
2 cups
plus 2 tablespoons (287g) all-purpose flour
-
1 teaspoon
baking soda
-
1 teaspoon
ground cinnamon
-
1 teaspoon
freshly grated nutmeg
-
1/2 teaspoon
ground cloves
-
1/4 teaspoon
freshly ground black pepper
-
1 cup
sliced almonds, unblanched or blanched
-
2 tablespoons
kirsch, Grand Marnier, or dark rum (optional)
- For the glaze
-
1/2 cup
(60g) confectioners' sugar, sifted
-
1 1/2 tablespoons
water
-
1 tablespoon
kirsch, Grand Marnier, dark rum, or water
Directions
-
To make the cookies: Pour the honey and sugar into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring just until the sugar dissolves. Stay close—once the honey boils, it can easily bubble over. Remove the pan from the heat; stir in the candied peel and lemon zest and scrape into a large bowl. Set aside to cool to lukewarm, about 30 minutes.
-
While the honey is cooling, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and spices.
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Using a sturdy flexible spatula or a wooden spoon, stir the almonds and the kirsch (or other alcohol), if you're using it, into the honey mixture, then gradually add the dry ingredients. You're going to end up with a very heavy dough, so be prepared to put some muscle into the mixing.
-
Scrape the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper dusted with flour and shape it into a square. dust the top with flour, sandwich it with another piece of parchment, and roll it into a 12-inch square. Don't worry about precision, but do try to get the dough a scant 1/2 inch thick (I actually aim for 1/3 inch, but I don't always make it). Slide the sandwiched dough onto a baking sheet, wrap the setup in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 2 days or keep it at room temperature for 1 day.
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Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
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Peel the parchment away from the top and bottom of the dough and place the dough on the lined baking sheet. Bake the leckerli for 13 to 15 minutes, or until it is golden and puffy; it may crack, but that's fine. Press on the dough lightly, and it will be soft. Slide the leckerli, still on its parchment, onto a cooling rack.
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Meanwhile, to make the glaze: Put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth.
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Using a pastry brush, brush the glaze evenly over the entire surface of the warm leckerli. If some drips dow the sides, that's fine. Allow the leckerli to cool to room temperature.
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Carefully slide the leckerli off the parchment and onto a cutting board. Working with a chef's knife or other long knife, trim the edges and cut the leckerli into 3-inch-wide bands. Cut each band into 3/4-inch-wide cookies.
With the publication her 14th book, Baking with Dorie, New York Times bestselling author Dorie Greenspan marks her thirtieth anniversary as a cookbook author. She has won five James Beard Awards for her cookbooks and journalism and was inducted into the Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. A columnist for the New York Times Magazine and the author of the xoxoDorie newsletter on Bulletin, Dorie was recently awarded an Order of Agricultural Merit from the French government for her outstanding writing on the foods of that country. She lives in New York City, Westbrook, Connecticut, and Paris. You can find Dorie on Instagram, Facebook, Bulletin and her website,
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