Lebkuchen (German Christmas Cookies)

Name: Lebkuchen (German Christmas Cookies)
Total time: 2700 s
Yield: 16 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 120 g hazelnuts; 120 g hazelnut powder or almond powder; 25 g walnuts; 50 g candied orange peel; 50 g candied lemon peel; 10 g candied ginger; 1/2 orange - use the zest; 1/2 lemon - use the zest; 20 g lebkuchen spice mix; 1/2 vanilla bean (scrap out the beans); 50 g flour; *****; 3 eggs (180 g); 235 g powdered sugar; ******; 16 oblaten wafers (if you can't find them, try using thin crackers or cookies)

Felice @morinoko

Connecticut, United States

Classic Christmas cookies of Germany and one of my favorite holiday sweets. They are very dense - mostly ground nuts and citrus peel, eggs and plenty of spice! This recipe came from a German baker. (Makes 16 lebkuchen)

Felice @morinoko

Connecticut, United States

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Ingredients

45 mins

16 servings

120 ghazelnuts
120 ghazelnut powder or almond powder
25 gwalnuts
50 gcandied orange peel
50 gcandied lemon peel
10 gcandied ginger
1/2orange - use the zest
1/2lemon - use the zest
20 glebkuchen spice mix
1/2vanilla bean (scrap out the beans)
50 gflour
*****
3eggs (180 g)
235 gpowdered sugar
******
16oblaten wafers (if you can't find them, try using thin crackers or cookies)

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Steps

45 mins

1

Mix all the nuts, spices, citrus peel, vanilla and flour (every except for eggs and sugar and wafers) into a bowl.
2

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.
3

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).
4

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!
5

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.
6

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.
7

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)
8

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.
9

Place the finished lebkuchen on a baking sheet one by one.
10

Bake for 15 minutes at 200°C/400°F
11

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.
12

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)
13

Brush over lebkuchen and decorate with almond slivers if you like. Let chocolate dry completely. All done!

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Felice @morinoko

on December 05, 2015 20:17

Connecticut, United States

I grew up in Southern Germany and Ohio, and spent 10 years in Japan. I love bread baking, #German food, and healthy, homestyle cooking in general inspired by my family and the seasons.Follow my cooking adventures on Instagram :)https://instagram.com/morinoko_