Now we’re kuchen! Lamoine woman fills kitchen with the tastes of Christmas

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If you are anything like me, you wait all year for pfeffern?sse to show up in the local markets at Christmastime. Infused with cinnamon, cloves and orange, these spicy cookies – literally “peppernuts” – are the very taste of Christmas. That’s because they come from Germany, also known as the epicenter of Christmas traditions. The same place gave us the Christmas tree, Santa Claus, Advent and many carols, including “Stille Nacht” (better known as “Silent Night”).

But it’s the pfeffern?sse that I love. Whether covered in powdery sugar or a delicate glaze, the holiday season at my house is not complete without these poppable little cakes.

At Antje Ludwig’s house in Lamoine, Christmas is not complete without all sorts of Christmas cookies. On a recent snowy morning, her kitchen was filled with the silken aroma of sweet butter and toasting spices.

Lebkuchen was in the oven, but the table was decorated with springerle, biscotti (an Italian cookie) and stollen, a curled loaf of bread with raisins and nuts, all of which Ludwig had made the night before. The Advent wreath, with fresh greens and red candles, added a crisp, outdoor scent to the mix.

In the next room, two of Ludwig’s grandchildren – Ilsa Graceland, 6, and Deven Teisl, 4 – were playing while they waited for the buzz of the oven timer – which would mean it was time for them to paint the white sugar-lemon glaze on the lebkuchen. Their Christmas calendar was on the refrigerator, and a pail almost as big as the children and filled with cookie cutters made it clear that over any river and through any woods, a trip to this grandmother’s house means cookies.

“I’ve always been into cookies and not ones with chocolate chips,” said Ludwig, whose kitchen is extraordinarily neat and homey. “I started making cookies on my own. My mother did some but not as intensely.”

Ludwig, who works at Sherman’s Book & Stationery Store in Bar Harbor, was born in Germany, and after the hard times her family experienced during World War II, including several evacuations and strained living circumstances, they moved to America in 1951. Ludwig, whose family name is Harries, did not speak a word of English. She learned quickly and, indeed, there is little trace of her mother tongue when she speaks.

While much of her German heritage has fallen into the background over the years, the Christmas traditions of her native country are still vibrant and inviting, not to mention delicious.

The German cookies on Ludwig’s holiday table are hardy. They crunch. They satisfy. And they last forever. Springerle, embossed with a decorative rolling pin, and lebkuchen, sliced into bars, can be made this week and will last for several months with the freshening help of a slice of apple in an airtight container. In fact, lebkuchen means “cake of life” because it lasts so long. Throughout the season, Ludwig sends cookies to her family and friends because “they’re shippable and durable.”

Linzer wreaths, which Ludwig’s daughter Laura Teisl was making that morning, are an exception to the storage rule because they are filled with red currant jelly.

Anise, citron, cloves, nuts – especially hazelnuts and almonds – cinnamon, sugar and honey are the ingredients that add the distinctive flavor to German cookies.

To that, Ludwig adds her own spice. Her warm and welcoming house is decorated with red and green and gold. There is the wreath, the candles, music and the gifts that will come to her grandchildren, who are bright-eyed and eager for cookies and more than cookies. But it is the magic of those cookies – the lebkuchen, the linzers, the springerle and, yes, the pfeffern?sse – that breathe the first bouquet of the holiday into the air.

“It’s the spirit,” said Ludwig as she motioned to the cookies and an ornamental stand of beribboned fir trees in the corner of the room. “It’s the music. The smells. The snow. It’s memories. The cookies are a tradition I will always do.”

Lebkuchen (Cake of Life)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2/3 cup honey, heated briefly in microwave

11/2 cup slivered, unblanched almonds

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon cloves

1 cup citron, diced

(I usually double the spices)

Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add honey and almonds. Add citron to dry ingredients. Combine the two mixtures. Chill. Spread on greased cookie sheet with floured hands, as thick as desired. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. Place sheet on cookie rack and brush with lemon glaze (3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar and enough fresh lemon juice and water to make a thin glaze.) When cool, cut into strips or squares. Store in an airtight container for up to three months. If they become too hard, add an apple or orange slice.

Linzer Wreaths

1 stick unsalted butter

3 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1 cup ground almonds

flour

red currant jelly

confectioners’ sugar

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Beat sugar and butter together. Add eggs. Beat well. Add nuts and flour to make stiff dough. Roll out thin and cut an equal number of circles and wreaths. Bake until light brown. When cool, combine the two cookies with a little heated red currant jelly and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

I usually bake one test cookie to make sure I’ve added enough flour. The cookie should keep its shape and not spread. I freeze the cookies and combine them just before serving.

Light Pfeffern?sse

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

3 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/4 cup blanched, ground almonds

1/2 cup chopped, candied lemon or orange peel

Beat eggs and sugar till frothy. Blend dry ingredients. Stir in. Add almond and peel. Mix with hands. Roll 1/4-inch thick. Cut in 1-inch rounds. Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Cover with towel and place in cupboard overnight. Then bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F. For softer cookie, bake immediately. Will keep for three months stored in an airtight container.