BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

BAR Test Kitchen: Tasty Cuneiform Tablets

The smell and spices of gingerbread are a sure way to warm your home during the holidays. Although gingerbread is old—it may have been introduced to Europe as early as the 11th century—it certainly isn’t ancient. For this Test Kitchen, we are trying something a little different and using an old family recipe to recreate an ancient object: a cuneiform tablet! So grab your stylus, because it’s time to become a scribe!

Our model tablet comes from Mari, an ancient Syrian city located along the Euphrates River. Dating to the 18th century BCE, during the reign of King Zimri-Lim, it describes the building of an icehouse in a nearby city. Of course, the original tablet is made of clay, which fortunately has a consistency remarkably similar to that of gingerbread.

Unless you happen to be an Assyriologist, however, you probably have little idea how to write ancient cuneiform characters. For a tutorial, visit British Museum: How to write cuneiform for a step-by-step guide to making your first cuneiform tablet. Then you’ll be ready to start baking!

A note on this recipe: Lebkuchengewürz is a common spice in Germany that can be purchased in the U.S. either online or at specialty stores. It is easily replaced, however, by combining pinches of cloves, cardamom, mace, and allspice. Lebkuchengewürz is a mixture of around a dozen spices, so it will give you a more complex flavor. Either spice combination works well for this recipe.—J.D.

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BAR’s Recipe

3/4 cup honey
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
2 sticks butter
1 cup almonds, ground
3 1/3–4 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 good pinch each of ground cloves, cardamom, mace, and allspice or 2 tsp Lebkuchengewürz
1 tbsp cocoa powder
grated peel of half a lemon
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp rum or water

Instructions:

1. Melt honey, sugar, and butter on stove until sugar dissolves. Take off the stove and allow to cool slightly, then pour into a mixing bowl.
2. Add almonds, 3 1/3 cups flour, spices, lemon, cocoa powder, and egg to the honey mixture. Mix well.

3. Stir baking soda into rum (or water) until dissolved; knead into the dough.
4. Mix dough at the highest speed until it is no longer sticky and soft. Add extra flour as necessary and mix until dough is smooth and solid.

5. Leave dough in a bowl, cover, and let sit overnight (or at least 4 hours) in the refrigerator.

6. Once dough has set, roll out to desired thickness (a slightly thicker dough works better for making the cuneiform).
7. Cut tablet to preferred size and shape, and begin making the cuneiform characters (see photo; a drawing is available in the online tutorial). Repeat for as many tablet cookies as desired.

8. Once tablets are “written,” bake at 350 degrees for 10–15 minutes, then allow to cool.
9. Once cooled, cookies will be very hard. Place into an airtight container with apple slices until they soften, at least seven days depending on local conditions.

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Related reading in Bible History Daily

Biblical Bread: Baking Like the Ancient Israelites

BAR Test Kitchen: Parsnips: Back to Roman Roots

BAR Test Kitchen: Tah’u Stew

Ancient Bread: 14,400-Year-Old Flatbreads Unearthed in Jordan

BAR Test Kitchen: Roman Custard

BAR Test Kitchen: Mersu

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