We've talked a lot about gingerbread and "Lebkuchen" as it's a perennial favorite this time of year. For you who are looking for a special brunch or tea time treat, try this cake warm from the oven with some whipped cream, or spoon the batter over applesauce in a Dutch oven and steam it like a pudding cake. This whole grain cake has no refined sugar but lots of flavor.

This would be a good cake to whip up for guests over Thanksgiving, too. It is a different flavor and texture from all the pies and other fare served on Thursday and Friday, plus the whole grains will make up for the indulgences to come.

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Wordless Wednesdays

Here are more Wordless Wednesdays on About.com and other Wordless Wednesday Blogs...

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Is Frankfurt in the north of Germany or the south? Where is the Weiswurst Equator? Do they say "Moin moin" or "Gruess Gott"?
Answers:

1. Frankfurt am Main is in the south-west, but considered more north than south.

2. Along the Main river, so Frankurt is just on the border. The Weiswurstgrenze or border is a fictitious division of Prussia from the Deep South (where they eat Weiswurst).

3. Neither, they say "Guude!" ("Guten Tag", hello) in Hessian dialect.

They also eat well, as this blog entry about food in Frankfurt (great pictures) shows, and have many food specialties.
Here is a description of typical dishes in Frankfurt and other tidbits. For instance, did you know that Frankfurt's main street is called "Fressgass" (Glutton Alley)?

For more on regional specialties in German-speaking countries, check out this page.

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Basel is a quaint town on the border of Switzerland to Germany. In addition to speaking Schwyzerdütsch (Swiss German), being home to many pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis and Hoffman-LaRoche and holding "Basler Fasnacht", the largest Carnival celebration in Switzerland, every year (where I forgot my passport and was almost detained once!), it has a famous Lebkuchen (gingerbread) specialty, the Basler Läckerli (or Leckerli, both spellings are correct). These cookies were developed in the mid-1400s for a bishop's conference, as something even more special than the other towns could provide (show offs!).

Of course, like Coca Cola, the recipe is a strict secret. We who cannot afford the seventy Swiss franc shipping charges for a kilogram of cookies must improvise. And so we come to the (knock-off) recipe for "Basler Läckerli". Made with the traditional potash and hartshorn as leavening agents and filled with cinnamon, candied lemon peel and nuts, these are a great holiday cookie. One batch makes 3-4 dozen dense bar cookies which just get better with age.

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