Lebkuchen: German Christmas Spice Cookies
Lebkuchen are the spice cookies that make German Christmas markets smell the way they do: almost no flour, mostly ground almonds and walnuts, honey and a spice mix you notice before you bite. The two things that decide the outcome: the dough rests overnight so the spices spread through it, and the cookies come out of the oven still soft — they turn chewy as they cool, and one minute too long makes them rock hard.
Ingredients
- 200 g ground almonds
- 100 g ground walnuts
- 200 g honey
- 100 g dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 80 g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- Zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
- For the spice mix: 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 pinch ground cardamom
- 24 round baking wafers, 7 cm (optional but traditional)
- For the glaze: 100 g icing sugar and 2 tbsp hot water
Method
- 1
Warm the honey with the brown sugar over low heat until dissolved, without letting it boil. Let it cool to lukewarm: added hot, it scrambles the eggs.
- 2
Mix the ground almonds and walnuts with the flour, baking soda, spices and zest.
- 3
Stir in the eggs and the lukewarm honey until you have a dense, sticky dough. Do not knead it — just bring it together.
- 4
Cover and rest in the fridge overnight, at least 12 hours. This rest is not optional: it is what spreads the spices through the whole dough instead of leaving them in pockets.
- 5
The next day, drop two-tablespoon mounds onto the wafers (or straight onto lined trays) and flatten them to 1 cm.
- 6
Bake at 160 °C for 18 to 20 minutes. They come out still soft to the touch and that is the right signal: if you wait until they firm up in the oven, they set rock hard.
- 7
Mix the icing sugar with the hot water and brush the cookies the moment they come out, while still hot — the glaze dries clear and seals them.
- 8
Store in a tin. They improve after two or three days and keep for several weeks.