Lebkuchen recipe

petrichor

In another thread someone asked for a recipe for lebkuchen. Here's mine, I hope some of you will find it useful.

BISCUIT MIX
50g butter
225g runny honey
2 tbsp milk
225g plain flour
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 level tbsp cocoa powder
2 level tbsp cornflour
1 heaped tsp cinnamon
1 heaped tsp ginger

FOR THE TOPPING
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp cornflour
25g butter


1. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
2. Heat the butter, honey and milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
3. Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and stir until smooth.
4. Cover with cling film and leave until cool enough to handle.
5. Preheat oven to 180C.
6. Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment.
7. Knead the mixture for a few seconds until smooth.
8. Roll into a long sausage shape and divide into 36 pieces.
9. Roll each piece into a ball and place onto the baking sheets and flatten slightly.
10. Bake for 10-12 mins until risen - do not over cook they need to be slightly chewy!
11. Whilst the biscuits are cooking sift the sugars and cornflour together and melt the butter.
12. Remove biscuits from oven and place on a cooling rack. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with the sugar mix. Leave to set.

You can of course coat them with chocolate if you like but I find that it takes away some of the spicy taste.

The original recipe that I used stated that these biscuits can be stored in an airtight tin for 6 days but they never last more than 24 hours in my house. :xmastree:

Trying_really_hard

ooooo, think I might try this out. I was in Germany a couple of years back and got hooked. Yay.

Sounds foolproof for even little me.

Trying_really_hard

I would just like to say that the above recipe is indeed foolproof and gives a very tasty and chewy result!!

I had a craving and just had the ingredients and tried to make them. The recipe seemed better than others which I happened to see on UKTV which had eggs, candied peel and other ingredients which I would have had to buy specially.

Thanks Pet!

The house smells all Christmassy now.

catznine

:T Thanks for this recipe, they have to be an all time favourite with me. I spent some years growing up in Germany and Lebkuchen and speculaa cookies are Christmas! :xmassmile

I made some speculaa cookies this week (using the recipe from Kethry's posting on Sunday:T ) I got a bit carried away though and decorated them like lebkuchen is often decorated .

Speculaa Cookies:-

1 hour 45 min prep

160g (5.6oz) butter
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
400g (14oz) flour
300g (10.5oz) brown sugar
50g ground almonds
4-6 tbspns milk
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardomom
1/2 tsp mace
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
milk to glaze

Cream the butter and sugar together, then beat in the salt, almonds, egg and 3 tablespoons of milk.

1. Add the flour and spices and enough of the remaining milk to make a stiff dough. Mix well to work in all of the flour thoughout the mixture.
2. Roll into a ball, cover with cling film and refridgerate for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out and use a wooden Speculaas form to make decrative shapes or use cookie cutter forms. Place on a greased baking tray, brush lightly with milk and bake at 200 C (400 F) for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

The end result:-

jennybridger

super recipe! just what i wanted - none of that peel and nuts in there!

gave it a go, had to try one before giving them as planned - shame i had run out of honey and could only to half a batch - will be buying more honey and making more!! forget the ones i bought from tesco!!

my dough seemed to be very sticky tho which made rolling in hard so i just rolled little balls in my hands and flattened them - not flat enough tho i feel!



should hear the verdict from the recipients tomorrow - don't suppose you have any ideas on nutritional values for the recipe?