Lebkuchen (German Gingerbread). Lebkuchen - German Gingerbread cookie is part of our World Cuisine Recipe Series. Lebkuchen is a soft gingerbread cookie frosted with sweet & tangy lemon frosting. You can find these cookies hanging in every German bakery at Christmas. Nürnberger Lebkuchen is just one of many types of German gingerbread popular at Christmastime. The spices had to be imported for all Lebkuchen, so cities with strong trading partners had an advantage over small, agricultural villages when creating new types of Lebkuchen.
The closest German equivalent of the gingerbread man is the Honigkuchenpferd ("honey cake horse").
German Lebkuchen are similar to gingerbread cookies, but they are very soft with a little more complex spice flavor.
Gingerbread Recipes Are Old (And Wonderful) My mom says it is a very old recipe from Volynia (an area around the border of today's Poland and Ukraine, where German settlers used to live).
You can have Lebkuchen (German Gingerbread) using 11 ingredients and 6 steps. Here is how you achieve that.
Ingredients of Lebkuchen (German Gingerbread)
- Prepare 300 g of cane sugar.
- You need 5 of eggs, medium size.
- Prepare 500 g of ground hazelnuts.
- You need 15 g of gingerbread spice mix.
- Prepare 0.5 tbsp of cinnamon.
- You need 25 g of candied orange peel.
- Prepare 25 g of candied lemon peel.
- It's 0.5 tsp of lemon peel.
- Prepare 1 of knive point of hartshorn or potash.
- Prepare of wafer paper, diameter 70 mm.
- You need of dark couverture chocolate.
Use your favourite cookie cutters to create an army of little men, a collection of hearts or a herd of reindeer! "Lebkuchen" (gingerbread) is also known as "Honigkuchen" (honeycake) in some parts of Germany. Those early lebkuchen recipes included various imported spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, anise, cloves, and of course, ginger Traditional lebkuchen, a German gingerbread variation with glaze. Carefully transfer the dough rectangle to the prepared pan, either by wrapping it around the rolling pin and then unfolding it into the pan, or using a giant spatula. At Lebkuchen-Schmidt, you buy original Nuremberg Lebkuchen online and directly from the manufacturer.
Lebkuchen (German Gingerbread) instructions
- Mix eggs and cane sugar until foamy. Chop candied orange and lemon peel. Since I am not a big fan of them I chop them rather finely so I do not bite on it in the Lebkuchen..
- Add the rest of the ingredients. First the spices, potash/hartshorn and lemon peel, mix throughly. Than the candied lemon and orange peel and the ground hazelnuts..
- Than add the candied lemon and orange peel and the ground hazelnuts and mix throughly..
- Spread with a knife on the wafer paper and put on a baking tray with baking parchment. Let sit in the oven overnight. The photo shows how they look the nex morning..
- The next morning: Take out the baking tray(s). Preheat the oven to 130 °C. Bake the cookies for 40 min. Let cool. (Photo: to the left the baked Lebkuchen, to the right how they look after a nights` lodging in the cold oven.).
- Glaze with dark couverture chocolate and decorate to taste with almonds or candied cherries. Enjoy! But only after the flavours had two weeks in the bisquit tin to mingle... ;).
Buy Gingerbread specialities like chests, tins or whole sets of Gingerbread to give away. Lebkuchen are German version of gingerbread but they are usually made with nuts, candied peel, cocoa and additional spices. I've made my own Lebkuchen spice mix and omg this is A BOMB! Covered in chocolate these cookies are extremely addictive so don't tell me later that I didn't warn you. The German practice of making lebkuchen houses (gingerbread houses) has caught on worldwide and is a fun and festive tradition in numerous countries around the world.