Recipe: Tasty Lebkuchen (German Christmas Cookies)
Lebkuchen (German Christmas Cookies). Lebkuchen is a traditional German cookie that is usually baked for Christmas. It is most like a soft gingerbread cookie, made with molasses and full of warm spices. The glaze provides the perfect complement, a little sweet and with a hint of lemon.
In Germany, one of the most popular Christmas cookies is Lebkuchen which is German equivalent to British gingerbread cookies. Lebkuchen is a classic German variation of a gingerbread cookie; it's softer and chewier than the crisp, thin versions. This bar cookie version is like a really moist and cakey gingerbread. You can have Lebkuchen (German Christmas Cookies) using 16 ingredients and 13 steps. Here is how you cook it.
Ingredients of Lebkuchen (German Christmas Cookies)
- You need of hazelnuts.
- Prepare of hazelnut powder or almond powder.
- It's of walnuts.
- It's of candied orange peel.
- You need of candied lemon peel.
- You need of candied ginger.
- It's of orange - use the zest.
- Prepare of lemon - use the zest.
- Prepare of lebkuchen spice mix.
- Prepare of vanilla bean (scrap out the beans).
- Prepare of flour.
- You need of *****.
- Prepare of eggs (180 g).
- It's of powdered sugar.
- It's of ******.
- Prepare of oblaten wafers (if you can't find them, try using thin crackers or cookies).
This dough, with its many spices, needs to ripen overnight before baking. This rendition of the deeply-spiced German Christmas cookie gets its soft, chewy texture from the addition of honey. Any leftover dough scraps can be re-rolled and cut into additional cookies; remaining candied citrus can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month. A German honey Christmas cookie made with molasses.
Lebkuchen (German Christmas Cookies) instructions
- Mix all the nuts, spices, citrus peel, vanilla and flour (every except for eggs and sugar and wafers) into a bowl..
- Working in batches, grind the mixture into a rough meal using a food processor. Don't make it into a powder - leave some graininess so the cookies will have a good texture..
- In a metal bowl, beat the eggs and powdered sugar together until all the white powder disappears. Heat some water in a big frying pan or pot on the stove, place the egg mixture bowl in the hot water and heat it until it's 40-43°C (you need to make it hot so it brings out the stickiness in the eggs)..
- Transfer to a mixer or use a beater, and beat the egg mix on low medium speed until it thickens up and turns a little white (You probably have to reheat the eggs at least one time). Beating them to this consistency will give your cookies a wonderful sticky texture!.
- Add the spice and nut mixture to the egg mixture and gently mix. Cover and let rest for one hour - this will help the mixture thicken up more..
- After one hour, it's time to put the 'dough' on the oblaten! One good way to do this is place a wine glass on the table upside down, put an oblaten wafer on the bottom of the glass and use it as a stand to work on..
- Using a dough scraper card, scoop up a big dollop of the lebkuchen dough and gently scrap it onto the oblaten wafer (scoop up more than you need so you have enough to work with).
- While rotating the glass around, gently scrap the dough from the center to the sides - try to leave the center as high as possible like you are trying to form a pyramid. The middle should be nice and thick or else you'll end up with flat lebkuchen..
- Place the finished lebkuchen on a baking sheet one by one..
- Bake for 15 minutes at 200°C/400°F.
- Remove from oven. For the sugar coating: brush half of the cookies with thick sugar water/syrup immediately. After the syrup dries, it will give the cookies a nice white frosted look..
- For the chocolate covered ones, you have to wait until they dry completely to do the chocolate. When cooled, melt chocolate in a double boiler (Put chocolate in a small metal bowl, heat a pan of water and place the bowl on the hot water until chocolate melts).
- Brush over lebkuchen and decorate with almond slivers if you like. Let chocolate dry completely. All done!.
German Lebkuchen. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. This traditional lebkuchen recipe is easy to make and contains no flour. Elisenlebkuchen are one of the most famous Christmas cookies in Germany! Lebkuchen Cookies - traditional glazed German Christmas cookies made with warming spices, for a festive treat to enjoy around the holiday season! This year, it's all about lebkuchen cookies: a traditional German Christmas treat.
