Nuremberg Elisenlebkuchen with Dark Chocolate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C, spread the hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast for 8 min, until the skins crack and they smell toasty. Wrap them hot in a dry tea towel and rub off most of the skins, then let them cool completely.

   Add in this stepWhole hazelnuts 60 g

   oven

2. Put the cooled hazelnuts with the candied orange and lemon peel in a food processor and pulse in short bursts to fine, moist crumbs. Don't run it too long, or the nuts release their oil and turn into paste.

   Add in this stepCandied orange peel 20 gCandied lemon peel 10 g

3. Beat the egg, brown sugar, honey, salt and orange zest with an electric mixer for 5 min until pale and thick. Crumble in the marzipan and keep beating until smooth with no lumps. For half an egg, beat one and use half.

   Add in this stepEgg 1Brown sugar 50 gHoney 2 tspSalt 1 pinchFinely grated orange zest ½ tspMarzipan 25 g

4. Add the hazelnut mixture, the ground almonds and all the spices and fold together with a spatula. Cover and chill for at least 4 h, ideally overnight: the flavour deepens and the dough firms up so it holds its shape.

   Add in this stepGround almonds 50 gGround cinnamon 1 tspGround ginger ¼ tspGround cloves 1 pinchGround nutmeg 1 pinchGround cardamom 1 pinchGround allspice 1 pinch

5. Lay 8 wafers on a tray lined with baking paper. With a palette knife dipped in water, spread the dough on each wafer in a 1.5 cm high dome, leaving a 2 mm border. Leave them uncovered at room temperature for 1 hour to form a thin skin; this helps them rise evenly without cracking.

   Add in this stepBaking wafers (Oblaten), 7 cm 8

6. Preheat the oven to 160 °C (140 °C fan) and bake on the middle shelf for 18 min, until risen and golden at the edges but still soft when pressed. Cool completely on a wire rack.

   oven

7. Chop the chocolate and put it with the butter in a heatproof bowl. Set it over a 14 cm pan with a little water kept just steaming on low heat (the bowl must not touch the water) and stir for 5 min until melted. Dip or brush the tops of the cooled lebkuchen and let them set on the rack.

   Add in this stepDark chocolate (60-70 % cocoa) 60 gUnsalted butter 5 g

   low heat