Can someone explain the purpose of edible rice paper for *lebkuchen* and

A quich search on "lebkuchen rice paper" which led to "oblaten lebkuchen" told me. . .

that some styles of lebkuchen were baked on a thin *wheat* disk (oblaten; wafer)) to keep them from sticking to the baking surface. The rice paper is a sub for the oblaten, I guess. Very interesting! From what I have read, Makronen (macaroons) of various sorts used to be cooked on oblaten as well and are very popular. I suppose that if you needed to turn out a whole BUNCH of cookies which tend to stick to a pan (like at a bakery), it would be quicker to bake on oblaten than to have to scrub and re-grease cookie sheets between batches.

So the cookies are tradionally baked on the oblaten, but not necessary.

I checked for "oblaten" at http://www.germanfoodguide.com/ and found that lebkuchen used to be baked (traditionaly) on oblaten, but the recipes did not call for oblaten.



http://germanfood.about.com/od/adventandchristmas/ss/nuernberger_lebkuchen.htm

http://germanfood.about.com/od/adventandchristmas/ss/nuernberger_lebkuchen.htm

 
First thing is

to always view an American holding forth on the internet about things German with suspicion until proven otherwise.

In this case, the recipe is an American adaptation that would never be baked in Germany. German bakers use oblaten, not rice paper, to bake Lebkuchen.

Oblaten are made from wheat. Germany doesn't grow rice.

The original bakers of Lebkuchen, monks, baked the little cakes in molds. As they became more popular, they wanted to bake more Lebkuchen faster. Therefore they started spreading the dough on oblaten which were the unconsecrated host for catholic communion, so that the Lebkuchen wouldn't stick to the brick ovens they used at the time.

It s now just a matter of tradition since we have parchment paper, silpats, and non-stick baking sheets. I always bake my Lebkuchen on oblaten just because I like the tradition of them being there, but they aren't necessary these days.

Also, there is only one variety of Lebkuchen that uses the baking oblaten, and that is the Nürnberg variety known as "Elisenlebkuchen." There are many other forms that do not use the oblaten, such as the large Lebkuchen hearts for sale at Oktoberfest and Christmas markets.

 
Late in Life Realization: Citron is NOT lemon (which is *citron* in French)

I've always hated fruit cakes due to the bitter candied citron, obscenely green candied something or other and dried currants. Oh, and the overly boozy smell.

The ingredient listing read "citron" so I always, Always, ALWAYS made the translation from French to English and thought it was candied lemon peel. Which was odd because I love almost anything lemon. I've even eaten raw lemon peels.

Imagine my surprise as I stood at the holiday baking aisle in Publix on Saturday and saw "Candied Lemon" right next to "Candied Citron" and realized they were two different colors. And the ingredient list said LEMON on one and CITRON on the other.

So I googled it and Lordy, there is a whole new food that I didn't realize existed.

More important, THIS MEANS I can make my own fruit cake and use candied lemon peel rather than candied citron.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=what+is+citron

 
Excellent explanation. Thanks Richard! I can now put my aproned hausfrau wearing

a conical "bamboo rice paddy hat" image to rest.

 
Citron

is quite good if prepared right. The Sicilians use it as well as candied pumpkin in their Cassata Siciliani for elaborate top decorating sliced in long thin strips to make all sorts of baroque curliques.

I'm with you on the foul bits of weird colored stuff passing for candied fruit in the grocery store. We've had discussions on this before, but I buy mine in bulk at a local candy store and it is excellent quality and very juicy. If you don't have that, mail order it.

For my fruitcakes, I use pounds of cherries and pineapple, a small amount of mixed orange and lemon, and that's it. No icky green bits, etc. My goal is to have just enough pound cake batter to make the cherries, pineapple chunks, and pecans stick together for baking. I used to make an elaborate dark Italian fruitcake that had everything and the kitchen sink in it, but I much prefer this simpler version these days.

I also love decorating the top with more pineapple rings, whole cherries, and pecans, then brushing it with hot apricot jam, so that it looks like a glistening jewel box on top of the cake. It always gets ooohs and ahhhs when people see it out on the buffet and I haven't heard one crack about fruitcake yet.

 
Marilyn! How timely this is. A mere 4 days ago I noticed a yellow "thingy" in the fruit section at

our grocery. Had not a clue as to what it was, but thought it'd be GREAT for some type garnish so I bought it. There was a bar code number sticker on it that said "Buddha's Hand" so I googled that after I arrived home.

On your above link and over to the far right, what I bought is at the bottom right of the picture of the 4 citrons. I flipped my "hand" over after leveling it on what became the bottom so the "hand" would be balanced to sit and so the"fingers" would stick straight up. I used it to hold 3 or 4 filled strawberries for a breakfast on Saturday. The rest of the filled strawberries were placed around the bottom of the "hand". It gave off a citrus-y smell and was the talk of that breakfast gathering! I didn't have time to read about this in too much depth prior to using it, but I simply guessed it must be something one would zest to add to foods. I never would have surmised it was what is used for candied citron! Like you, I thought that term simply meant candied lemon. Well, I learn something new every day. And the truly amazing thing is that it has also just now showed up on eat.at only 4 days after I saw my first citron! What a coincidence. Thanks so much for posting and discussing this.

 
If anyone wants the Heavenly Filled Strawberries REC--easy and good! Photo at link.

Heavenly Filled Strawberries from A TASTE OF HOME.

Ingredients
3 dozen large fresh strawberries
2 packages (one 8 ounces, one 3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
Grated chocolate (I used a 72% dark chocolate w/ almond Ghirardelli bar)

Directions
1. Remove stems from strawberries; cut a deep "X" in the tip of each berry. Gently spread berries open.
2. In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and extract until light and fluffy. Pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons into each berry; sprinkle with chocolate. Chill until serving. Yield: 3 dozen

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/heavenly-filled-strawberries

 
Ooh, I must look for those. DH is a citron fanatic

when it comes to the Madeira Christmas cake, and I have decided I must candy my own citron, seeing that I routinely do my own candied orange peel. But now I can't find them! Perhaps the season is only starting now. I still have some of the citron I bought in NYC, so we should be fine for this year's batch.

 
Lana, I know EXACTLY where they're at so I can just bring some on Sunday.

The container was the short squat one that is typically 1/4 lb in a deli...not sure if it's 4 or 8 oz of candied citron.

How much do you need?

 
My favorite fruit cake was from some monks and it was almost all nuts with

some cherries and a bit of pineapple.

I was in HEAVEN (which--in retrospect--may have been their intent). It said it had booze, but didn't assault the nostrils like some do...and there wasn't the odd preservative smell that comes with other fruitcakes.

 
Thanks, Marilyn, but I did say DH was a fanatic - the kind in the tub is Not Acceptable....

Fresh Market used to have some that was OK, but they didn't have any this year, just the orange peel. Thanks for the thought! smileys/smile.gif

 
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