Rye Lebkuchen

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 160C/140 fan.
2. Heat the honey, sugar and butter gently in a small saucepan until melted, stirring to combine. Set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl add the flour, 1 egg, spices, baking powder, candied peel, and orange zest. Pour over the cooled honey mixture and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon, until well mixed. You should have quite a loose, sticky mixture.
4. Set aside for an hour or two. In this time your dough will become stiffer and easier to work with.
5. Flour your work surface. Roll out the dough to ½ cm thickness.
6. Cut out shapes using a cookie cutter or glass. Traditional shapes are hearts, stars and circles.
7. Place on a baking tray with baking parchment.
8. Briefly knead your off-cuts of dough into a ball, roll out and cut. Repeat until all the dough is used up.
9. Briefly whisk the egg white with a fork and brush over the biscuits.
10. Decorate with glace cherries and blanched almonds, or as you wish, or not at all!
11. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove and cool on a wire rack.
12. The biscuits should keep well in an airtight container for a few weeks.