These festive spiced Lebkuchen cookies (or biscuits if you’re not American) originate from Germany and make a great treat in the festive season. They’re full of happy, warming spices that just ooze Christmas and go perfectly with a coffee or mulled wine.
They’re traditionally made in the shape of a heart, but considering I made these in December, I figured that snowflakes, stars and trees were more appropriate.
My recipe calls for a dab of jam on the front of the biscuit and the backs are dipped in dark chocolate. Once again, in the spirit of the festive season, I decorated mine a bit more creatively, with some still having the dab of jam on the front.
The dough itself is quite delicate to work with. The mix, when turned onto the rolling surface, needs extra flour gently kneaded into it. It’s a fine line between just enough to too much, but err on the side of less is more. Just handle the dough very gently, because it breaks quite easily.
That said, if your cut shapes break, just re-roll them with the excess cut around and none will go to waste.
Enough chat, here’s the recipe for my Lebkuchen!
Lebkuchen
Festive, spiced Lebkuchen. Delicious biscuits with a dollop of jam and coated in chocolate, they’re perfect for celebrations, and of course, Christmas.
36
biscuits30
minutes10
minutes1
minuteClick for the screen to stay active while you cook
You will need
60 g 60 unsalted butter
2/3 cup 2/3 golden syrup
325 g 325 plain white flour
3/4 tsp 3/4 ground ginger
1/4 tsp 1/4 ground cardamom seed
1/2 tsp 1/2 ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp 1/2 ground cloves
1 pinch 1 salt (don’t add if using salted butter)
1 tsp 1 bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp 1 cocoa
1 tbsp 1 milk
Here’s what to do
- In a large pot, melt butter over low heat. Add the golden syrup and let come to boiling point, then remove it from the heat.
- Stand 10 minutes.
- Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the butter mixture with the milk. Stir with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula until smooth.
- Cover and stand at room temperature 1.5 hours. The mixture will thicken.
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F
- Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead very gently, working in just enough flour for the dough to lose its stickiness.
- Roll out to around 8mm thickness. Cut with a shaped cutter.
- Gently place cut biscuits on oven trays and make a small indentation with the end of a wooden spoon in each one and fill with a little strawberry or raspberry jam.
- Gather and reroll dough until it’s all used up.
- Bake 8 – 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and let cool completely on the trays.
- To finish
- Melt chocolate and smooth, drip or flick onto the smooth side of the biscuit and let sit, upside down on wire racks until the chocolate has set.
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