GERMAN HONEY BARS

German Honey Bars image

We get German Honey Bars at a local bakery here in Indy. They are my husbands favorite cookie. I have looked high and low for the recipe with no results. My husband found this recipe in a cookbook he was looking through at Cracker Barrel Country Store, so he bought it. I made them for him because he washed all the windows on the...

Provided by Julia Ferguson

Categories Cookies

Number Of Ingredients 14

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Ingredients

2 3/4 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 c honey
1/2 c dark molasses
3 Tbsp butter
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 c chopped toasted almonds (optional)
lemon glaze (recipe follows)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. *Grease 15X10X1 inch jelly-roll pan. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom and ginger in medium sized bowl. Combine honey and molasses in medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add butter; stir until melted. Cool 10 minutes. Stir in brown sugar and egg. *See note below.
2. Place brown sugar mixture in large bowl. Gradually add flour mixture., beating with electric mixer at low speed until dough forms. Stir in almonds if using. (*Dough will be slightly sticky) Spread dough evenly in prepared pan. Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until golden brown and set. Remove pan to wire rack
3. Prepare Lemon Glaze. Spread over cooled bars. Let stand until set, about 30 minutes. Cut into 2X1 inch bars.
4. Lemon Glaze: 1 1/4 c. powdered sugar, 1 tsp. freshly grated lemon peel and 3 Tbsp. lemon juice in medium bowl until well blended.
5. *Notes: After 10 minutes the honey molasses mixture was still very warm and I didn't want to add the egg and have it turn out scrambled, so I set the bowl on a few ice cubes wrapped in a paper towel for a couple of minutes. The dough being slightly sticky is an understatement. It is very sticky and I had a hard time rolling it out. Finally placed a piece of waxed paper over the dough and rolled with rolling pin. It was a little better but dough still stuck to the waxed paper. I also lined my pan with parchment paper, rather than greasing the pan. I did not add the almonds, because the honey bars we get at the bakery do not have almonds in them. These honey bars are bolder in taste with the spices and much darker in color than the ones we get at the bakery. I think with a little tweaking with spices and playing with a different kind of molasses I can get a little closer to the bakery version.