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Leckerly, Läckerli, Leckerli, Läggerli
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By Andie Pilot
Published 2021
Why so many names for a single baked good?
The Leckerli known in Basel today can be traced back to the 1300s when the Lebkuchen trade developed in Europe, particularly in monasteries. In fact, many of the oldest books list the specialty as Lebkuchen, with its first appearance as Leckerly in a 1741 cookbook by Anna Magdalena Falkeysen, whose handwritten recipe can still be viewed in the Basel city archive.
The word itself most likely comes from the German verb lecken or schlecken, to lick. Indeed Schleckzeug, German for something to lick, is another name for a sweet. And to complicate matters there weren’t only Leckerli from Basel, but other parts of the country had their own Leckerli, like the ones from Zurich that are similar to marzipan.
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