Glazed Lebkuchen Recipes

LEBKUCHEN COOKIES

Steps:

• Prepare the Cookies: In a 1½ quart saucepan, combine the honey and muscovado sugar. Over medium-high heat, stir gently until the sugar begins to dissolve and the mixture just begins to come to a simmer. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool until warm to touch. Whisk in the egg and lemon zest and juice.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
• On low speed, stir in the wet ingredients until a smooth, sticky dough forms. Laura's Note: This will be slack and loose, don't worry! Scrape the dough into a lightly oiled ceramic bowl and cover with a plate - you want the dough to be able to breathe.
• Allow the dough to "ripen" at cool room temperature for 1 to 2 days - do not refrigerate. (The large amount of honey and sugar will keep bacteria at bay.)
• Position racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat it to 350°F (180°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Turn out the dough onto a well-floured work surface. Roll it out to a ¼-inch/6 mm thickness. Use a bench scraper or thin spatula to get under the dough and scoot it around in the flour occasionaly to prevent sticking. Cut shapes with 2-inch/5 cm cutters and place 1 inch/2½ cm apart on the prepared baking sheets. Sweep away any excess flour with a pastry brush.
• Bake until fragrant and lightly browned, about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time. (Watch closely, as honey in the dough can make the edges catch and burn quickly.)
• Prepare the Glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar, egg white, lemon juice, and salt for a smooth, thin, runny glaze. (Add a few drops of lemon juice, as needed, to achieve this consistency).
• Let the cookies firm up and cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Run an offset spatula under the cookies to gently looesn them from the parchment paper, leaving them on the sheets.
• While still warm, brush the cookies with glaze and transfer to wire racks. Allow the cookies to cool and the glaze to dry completely.
• The secret to a perfect lebkuchen texture is in the resting phase: place the cookies into airtight containers in layers, seperated by parchment or wax paper. Tuck a wedge of apple in the container before sealing. Store in a cool place for at least 3 days, or up to 2 weeks, to allow the cookies to ripen once more before serving.

LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Pulse almonds and hazelnuts in a food processor until very finely chopped. Add candied peels and dates, and pulse until finely chopped. Add almond paste, and pulse to combine. Add jam, and pulse. Add eggs and brown sugar, and pulse. Add flour mixture, and pulse. Transfer dough to an airtight container, and refrigerate overnight (or up to 3 days).
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using a 2-inch ice cream scoop (1/4 cup), drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing cookies 3 inches apart. Place 3 almonds close together on top of each cookie. Bake until golden brown, about 14 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
• Whisk together confectioners' sugar and milk, and brush over cooled cookies. Let stand until set.

EASY GERMAN LEBKUCHEN RECIPE

Steps:

• Combine the ground spices in a small bowl or jar.
• Cover and set aside.
• This recipe makes a little more spice mix than you need for these cookies. Feel free to add more spice mix to the cookies if you'd like a stronger flavor.
• Wash oranges and lemons.
• Zest the citrus using a microplane.
• Heat water and sugar in a small saucepan over medium high heat.
• Add zest and stir.
• Bring to a low boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Strain out the liquid and let the candied zest cool in a small bowl.
• Cover with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you're ready to use it.
• This recipe will likely make a little more candied zest than you need for these cookies. Feel free to add more if you'd like a stronger flavor.
• Use a food processor to grind the almonds and hazelnuts until they're like crumbs. (But be careful that you don't grind so long that they turn into nut butter! It's ok if you have some larger nut chunks.They don't all have to be the same size.) Set ground nuts aside.
• Add the brown sugar, Lebkuchen Spice Mix, baking powder, and salt to a mixing bowl (or the food processor or the bowl of a stand mixer). Mix with a whisk or spoon until combined
• Add the candied zest and mix again.
• Add the nuts and mix.
• Add the spice mix and stir.
• And then add the honey and mix again.
• Whisk the eggs in a small bowl, then add the eggs to the dough and mix again.
• The dough should be pretty thick at this point.
• At this stage you can cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. Or you bake your cookies right away.
• When you're ready to bake your cookies, pre-head your oven to 325F/160C.
• Place the Oblaten wafers on a lined baking tray (if using).
• If using the 70mm size, spoon 2 tablespoons dough onto the middle of each wafer. If your dough immediately flattens out and spills out over the wafer, add more ground nuts (try grinding another 1/4 to 1/2 cup).
• Ideally you want the baked cookies to cover the entire wafer while keeping a domed shape. You can use lightly damp fingers to gently spread the dough towards the edge of the Oblaten. I just barely spread the dough towards the edges.
• For the cookies you want to eat plain (no glaze), you can press almonds into the dough at this stage. I totally forgot to do that so my plain cookies are very plain (still tasty, though)!
• Bake the cookies for 20-22 minutes or until the edges are browned. Let the cookies cool on a wire rack.
• Add powdered sugar, water, vanilla extract, and rum extract (optional) to a small bowl and mix until there are no lumps. Adjust powdered sugar and water as needed. The sugar glaze in the recipe below should be enough to glaze half of the cookies, so double it if you want to use it for all of the cookies.
• Chop the dark chocolate and add a bit of oil (vegetable, coconut, etc). Slowly melt the chocolate in the microwave on 15-20 second intervals or in a double boiler on stove (or place a glass bowl over a saucepan that has simmering water it in). Stir frequently. When 3/4 of the chocolate has melted, simply keep stirring to melt the rest. If you want all of your cookies to have a chocolate glaze, double the recipe.
• Use a pastry brush to apply the sugar or chocolate glaze to the top of the cookies. You can also dip the cookies in the glaze (I found it easiest to use the pastry brush).
• Add almonds (whole blanched, slivered or sliced) to decorate the top of the cookies before glaze sets.
• Let the glaze dry on the cookies for 12-24 hours. Store in an airtight container with wax paper between layers of cookies. They'll keep for at least a couple weeks, longer in the freezer.

GERMAN LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• In a large bowl, beat the egg, brown sugar and honey until smooth. Stir in the molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and allspice; stir into the molasses mixture. Stir in the almonds and candied fruit peel. Cover or wrap dough, and chill overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into 2x3 inch rectangles. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. While still warm, brush the cookies with the lemon glaze.
• To make the glaze: In a small bowl, stir together the egg white, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix in the confectioners' sugar until smooth. Brush over cookies.

LEBKUCHEN (GERMAN HONEY BARS)

Steps:

• Honey bars:
• Heat honey and water in a large heavy saucepan until runny. Remove from heat, and stir in butter until melted. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in brown sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.
• Add the flour mixture to the honey mixture and stir just until combined. Add almonds, citron, and candied orange peel. Stir until the dough is smooth. Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 24 hours or up to 1 month.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 13x9x2-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper so it extends over the 2 long sides.
• Firmly press the dough into the prepared pan to form a smooth, even layer. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean, about 30 minutes.
• Citrus glaze and decoration:
• In a medium bowl, beat together powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla until smooth. While the lebkuchen is still warm, spread glaze evenly over the top.
• Mark into bars by cutting into the lebkuchen about ¼ inch deep with a knife. Decorate, if desired, by placing 1 candied cherry in the center of each bar. And arrange 4 blanched almonds around each cherry.
• Let stand in the pan on a rack until completely cool and the icing is set. Using the overhanging parchment as handles, transfer to a cutting board. Cut into bars. If possible, let the cookies age for at least 2 weeks to allow the spices to ripen. Lebkuchen will keep for months in an airtight container.

GLAZED LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, bring honey to a boil. Remove from the heat; cool to room temperature. Meanwhile in a large bowl, beat honey and sugars until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves and allspice; gradually add to honey mixture. Stir in the nuts, citron and lemon peel (mixture will be thick)., Press into a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 20-28 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. , Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla. Spread over bars while warm. Immediately cut into bars. Decorate with cherries and citron. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

PFEFFERNüSSE (GERMAN SPICE COOKIES)

Steps:

• Melt the butter and the honey on low heat in a small pot on the stove. Stir constantly and remove the pot from the stove as soon as the honey and butter are melted. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix the egg and the sugar with the normal beater attachment of your electric mixer until they have a creamy consistency. Add the butter-honey mixture and mix again until everything is combined.
• In a separate bowl, combine flour, ground almonds, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, clove spice, and a pinch of salt. Use a spoon to stir everything around.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the large bowl with the wet ingredients while using your electric mixer on the lowest setting. The mixture will be slightly crumbly at first. Set your mixer aside and use your hands to form a ball of dough - make sure everything is well combined.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Use a small teaspoon to separate a bit of the dough and use the palm of your hands to form a small ball. The ball should have a diameter of just under 1-inch since it will get slightly bigger in the oven. Form balls of roughly the same size with all of the dough and place them on the parchment paper with some space in between.
• Bake the Pfeffernüsse in the oven for approximately 15 minutes. Ours were done at exactly 15 minutes, but since every oven is different your baking time might be slightly shorter or longer.
• Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack to fully cool.
• Once the Pfeffernüsse have cooled sufficiently, prepare the glaze by whisking powdered sugar and lemon juice or water together. You can either dip the top of the cookies into the glaze or brush the glaze onto the top of the cookies. Let the glaze harden. You can also leave some of the cookies without a glaze.

AUTHENTIC GERMAN LEBKUCHEN (NüRNBERGER ELISENLEBKUCHEN)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
• Toss the candied lemon and orange peel with about 1/4 cup all-purpose flour to keep it from sticking together and then pulse in a food processor until finely minced. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs until foamy. Add the sugar, honey and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
• Add the ground almonds and hazelnuts, salt, baking powder, Lebkuchengewürz, and candied lemon and orange peels and stir vigorously until thoroughly combined. (You can use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat for about 2 minutes). The mixture will be wet but if it is too thin to scoop onto the oblaten add some more almond or hazelnut meal.
• Scoop the mixture onto the Backoblaten, smoothing down the top and leaving just a slight space around the edges. Set them on a lined cookie sheet.
• Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove the cookie sheet and allow to cool completely.
• Once cooled, place a wire rack over a cookie sheet (to catch the drippings). Dip half the Lebkuchen in the chocolate glaze and half in the sugar glaze, letting the excess drip back into the bowl and then place the Lebkuchen on the wire rack. Arrange 3 almonds on each Lebkuchen while the glaze is still wet. Let the Lebkuchen dry completely until the glaze is hardened.
• Keep stored in an airtight container. Will keep for several weeks and the flavor improves with time.
• Makes about 35 if using 70mm Backoblaten and about 25 if using 90mm Backoblaten.