Besides the pleasure of the travel itself, there is another side of my journey that I will always appreciate: the foodie discoveries. Before or after arrival, I am looking for some interesting recipes or foods that can help me better understand the new place I am visiting. The last week, I was on a mission to rediscover Leipzig and my attention was caught by a brownie looking pastry. It was my first date with the traditional 'Leipziger lark' or 'Lerche' in the local language.
At the beginning, when introduced in the gourmet language of Saxony, the area where Leipzig is situated, it used to be a lark-based pastry. The legend goes that it went so popular that the poor larks were about extinction and the King of Saxony placed it under a ban.
The local gourmet experts substituted the filling with sweet alternatives, that are still prepared and tasted nowadays. The most popular filling at this time of the year is with marzipan, other solutions being with: jams, nuts, almonds, chocolate. The recipe is relatively easy, a mixture of salt, flour, butter, sugar and water. For the aesthetic part, one can use either the classical muffin shapes, or some special shapes that are quite easy to find in any bakery shop in Leipzig. Another distinctive feature of the 'Lerche' are the sprinkles either of icing sugar or some pistachio or coconut and the pastry X on the lid.
If you taste the variant with marzipan one 'Lerche' might be enough. It goes with Jasmin or Greentea, but also with coffee or a honest cup of milk.
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