SusieJ's Advent Calendar: December 2, 2008

The recipe: Pfefferkuchen

This Lebkuchen variation is another make-it-early recipe. The dough sits for two weeks before being baked. Additionally, the cookies will keep for weeks in an air-tight container and ship well.

The surprise: Christmas markets

Whether called Christkindlmarkt or Weihnachtsmarkt, every German city has a daily outdoor Christmas market in December. Smaller towns like the one I lived in had market on weekends. They beat the mall any time, if only because of the hot spiced wine served.

Keeping my mind on the task ...

You know how all the cooking magazines tell you to use your spices in a year, or throw them out? I bake often, but not so often that I need new spices every year. I do two things to avoid stale spices: I buy from Penzeys, whose high turnover ensure that their spices are much fresher than what I get in the grocery store, and I buy whole (not ground) nutmeg, cloves and allspice, which hold their flavor longer. Plus, the whole spices work better for mulled cider and Glüwein.

No one wants to bite down on a whole clove, so I grind spices as I need them. A marble mortar and pestle does the job nicely, and takes less room than an electric spice/coffee grinder. Manual grinding does take more time and effort, and can get tedious. Thinking about something moderately annoying keeps tempo going long enough to get a fine grind.

I've learned there are degrees of annoying that I can think about. Thinking about politics this last election cycle got me this: