Gingerbread is definitely my favorite Christmas treat! All the aromas of the spices and the delicious honey combine so perfectly and the taste reminds you of a cozy and contemplative Christmas Eve with the family. One bite of this delicious gingerbread will definitely get you in the Christmas spirit and you'll want to decorate the tree and crank up the Christmas music.

Many of you know that we produce our cosmetics in southern Germany in our own production and that I am originally from there. Every year I was very excited to see when the gingerbread would finally be available in stores again in autumn (nowadays it seems to be getting earlier every year).

Above all, my anticipation was huge when my grandmother baked her Lebkuchen freshly (according to her traditional German recipe) shortly before Christmas and the whole house smelled of delicious Christmas Lebkuchen.

An absolutely critical ingredient in gingerbread is a delicious traditional gingerbread spice . There is absolutely no way to make gingerbread without gingerbread spice . There is no substitute and you can't just leave it out. I know that gingerbread spice is next to impossible to find outside of Western Europe. But it's very easy to make yourself! In my other blog post you will find the recipe for my homemade gingerbread spice , an absolutely magical spice mixture. But even if you are lucky and can easily find gingerbread spice in stores in Germany, I recommend making your own. It will taste a hundred times better and give your gingerbread a richer, deeper and more flavorful flavor! When you add this homemade gingerbread spice to this authentic German gingerbread recipe, all you have to do is close your eyes and you'll feel like you're at one of the Christmas markets in Germany at Christmas time.

You can find many different gingerbread recipes on the internet. Some for the Nuremberg Lebkuchen, which are made without flour but with nuts. Other types of gingerbread are made from a stiff dough that is rolled and baked. My favorites are these soft gingerbread cookies, traditionally shaped like stars, hearts and pretzels, which I would like to show you in this recipe. After I've baked the cookies, my favorite thing to do is cover them with chocolate, but you can also use a rum and sugar frosting or eat them right away.

These cookies can be stored in a tin with frosting for up to 10 days (though they never make it that far in our house as we've nibbled on them before) or you can wrap and freeze them to keep them fresher longer.