German Lebkuchen Recipe
For Christmas

Enjoy my German lebkuchen recipe in all shapes and sizes.

Whether you bake your lebkuchen in stars or figures, plain or decorated, not having lebkuchen in Germany at Christmas is unthinkable.

For 2-3 baking sheets:

250g honey
250g brown sugar
100g butter
400g flour
100g ground almonds
1 teaspoon lebkuchen spices
to make your own lebkuchen spices you will need: 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon each of ground nutmeg, ginger and cardamon
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 egg
1 tablespoon pottasche (potassium carbonate, we can get this from the chemist in Germany)


Heat the honey, butter and sugar in a pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Put the mixture into a large bowl and leave to cool.

Add the flour, almonds lebkuchen spices, cocoa powder and the egg to the honey mixture and mix together thoroughly.

Dissolve the potassium carbonate in 2 tablespoons water and then add to the lebkuchen mix. Knead thoroughly. The mixture should not be sticky now.

If necessary add a little flour.

Wrap the dough in aluminium foil and leave overnight in a cool place.

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C.

Knead the dough again and roll out on a floured surface to 1/2 cm thick.

Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and place on a baking sheet prepared with baking paper. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes.

Storing Your German Lebkuchen

You can keep your lebkuchen in a closed cookie tin for many weeks. It is important that once baked the lid should not be tightly closed for a few days until the lebkuchen has softened. Placing a piece of apple in tin helps keep the lebkuchen chewy. Replace the apple with a fresh piece after 2-3 days.

Pack your lebkuchen cookies in pretty christmas tins and give to friends and family to enjoy during the holiday season.

Return from German Lebkuchen Recipe to German Christmas Cookie Recipes

Return from German Lebkuchen to Authentic German Recipes Home

Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.
Google

Zachary - USA

Tremendous website. I lived in Germany for almost 14 years. Your recipes have me excited about getting back into German cooking. Thanks so much!

How To Make Vanilla SugarMake your own vanilla sugar to use in German cakes, cookies and German dessert recipes.