German Gingerbread

German gingerbread (lebkuchen) is tasty to be sure, and comes in more varieties than I ever thought possible but this year I am really missing good old plain gingerbread.

It all started when J.P. asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I asked him for the same thing I asked my mom last year when I was still living in Canada - gluten free gingerbread cookies.  I have a gluten allergy and gingerbread cookies are my favorite, but it's difficult to find gluten free ones.  Last year my mom lovingly made me a large tin of gluten free gingerbread cookies, which are not the easiest to make requiring at least four different types of flour to get the consistency right.  There was enough to last me months, but they didn't even last a week!  I knew J.P. wouldn't be baking them from scratch, he needs help just using the microwave  (no joke, the mircowave is new for him and he has no idea how long it takes to cook things in there) but I hoped he would figure something out.  A few days later a large box arrived at my door with the writing "gluten-frei lebkuchen" in other words, gluten-free gingerbread.  He was so disappointed that I had discovered this early as this was supposed to be part of my Christmas present. I was thrilled beyond words!

Gluten free German Gingerbread and other gluten free cookies - part of my Christmas present from J.P.

Nevertheless I insisted that I dig into the German gingerbread since I knew that it existed, I couldn't possibly wait until Christmas and besides, it would be fresher now anyway I said as I pleaded my case.   J.P. said if we were going to do it then we had to do it the German way and have our German gingerbread with coffee as well, which we did.  I didn't know where to start.  He didn't know what I would like, so he had ordered me every single kind of gluten free gingerbread they had, which was a lot! Yes, I know, I am a very lucky girl!  I am still working my way through it (it only arrived on Saturday), but I'm sure it will be long gone by Christmas.  So far I've tried the white chocolate covered German gingerbread, and two kinds of  chocolate covered German gingerbread, that's all soft and gooey and melts in your mouth. It's definitely the fanciest gingerbread that I've ever had and I'm sure German gingerbread would get top marks from chefs, but I can't stop thinking about plain old regular gingerbread men with perhaps a trace of white icing to give them a smile making me wonder whether they've been naughty or nice!

What do you miss about Christmas when traveling or living abroad?

Gingerbread men photo courtesy of:  m kashahara

You may also enjoy these other Holiday posts:
5 Tips for Going to a German Christmas Market
Ludwigsburg Christmas Market
What Hiking in Germany Has in Common with a German Christmas Market