We Brits are partial to our Christmas Cake, Christmas Puddings and Mince Pies at Christmas but, for me, one of the nicest sweet treats to have at Christmas is the German spiced biscuit – Lebkuchen! They’re packed full of wonderful Christmassy spices and are quite common in most shops around Christmas now, but these are super easy to make and are guaranteed to make your house smell of Christmas when you bake them! They make awesome gifts if you bag or box them up, and I’ll guarantee they become a Christmas favourite for you too.
Lebkuchen
Print RecipeIngredients
- 60g Ground Almonds
- 290g Plain Flour
- 85g Butter
- 50g Dark Brown Sugar
- 100g Honey
- 100g Treacle
- 1 Egg, beaten
- 1/2 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 1 Tsp Ground Cinammon
- 1 Tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 Tsp Mixed Spice
- 1/2 Tsp Nutmeg
- 1/2 Tsp Cloves
- Zest of Clementine
- For the deocoration:
- 200g Dark Chocolate, melted
- 150g Icing Sugar
- 3 Tbsp Boiling Water
Instructions
Add the honey, treacle, butter and brown sugar into a saucepan and place over a low heat, stirring regularly, until completely melted and combined. Leave to cool for a few minutes.
In a large bowl, combine together the dry ingredients - almonds, flour, spices, bicarb and zest - and make a well in the center.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add in the beaten egg and melted honey/sugar/butter/treacle mixture and combine until it becomes a dough. It'll be quite sticky!
Wrap in baking paper and place into the fridge to get completely cold.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C Fan)/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
Remove the chilled dough from the fridge, and on a lined baking tray break off and roll the dough into golf ball size and flatten down the top slightly with wet fingers. Make sure they're evenly spaced out - probably about 8 per tray will be enough otherwise they might end up spreading out and baking into one big biscuit!
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorate the biscuits with melted chocolate and/or the combination of icing sugar and water by dipping the tops in, and then leave to set.
Once set, enjoy to your heart's content!
