german gingerbread cookies

These traditional German Christmas cookies are thick and soft gingerbread cookies with a unique spice blend that gives an old world flavor.

German Gingerbread Cookies

Tablespoons butter

Tablespoons molasses

corn syrup

all-purpose flour

dark brown sugar

cinnamon

cloves

allspice

coriander

cardamom

ginger

nutmeg

baking powder

salt

eggs

chocolate chips

Tablespoons vegetable shortening

almonds

If you are not familiar with lebkuchen, they are basically soft German gingerbread cookies. Like other gingerbread, they have an array of flavourful spices like ground cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.

Lebkuchen - German Gingerbread Cookies

brown sugar (or demerara sugar)

milk

water

butter

gingerbread spice mix (or a mix of ground cinnamon, ginger and cloves)

baking soda

liquor (like brandy, rum, or vodka)

nuts and seeds (for decoration)

In a saucepan heat brown sugar, milk, water and butter on medium heat. Stir to combine until the butter is melted and the sugar dissolves. Take off heat as the mixture just starts to come to a boil.

Add flour, gingerbread spice mix and salt and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until combined. Return saucepan to the stove. Continue heating the dough while stirring until it thickens and starts to pull away from the sides.

Set saucepan aside in a cool place (outside if you live in a cold climate) until the dough is no longer hot so it won&#039;t cook the egg white in the next step. But don&#039;t chill so long that the dough gets too stiff to stir.

In the meantime, beat the egg white until stiff. When the dough as cooled, stir/knead in the stiff egg white, baking soda and liquor.&nbsp;

Prepare several sheets of parchment paper. Divide the dough into 4 portions. Place each dough portion on a piece of parchment. Place another parchment paper sheet on top and roll the dough out to a disc of about 1/4 inch thickness.

Place the rolled out Lebkuchen dough  discs in the freezer or fridge until thoroughly chilled through.

Preheat your oven to 350° F and prepare 2 baking sheets.

Flour your work surface. Then take one chilled dough sheet at a time and, adding only as much flour as needed to keep it from sticking, roll to about 1/8-inch thickness.

Cut out desired shapes. Dip the cookie cutter in flour between cuts. Place the cookie cut outs on a baking sheet and decorate with nuts and seeds, if desired.

Bake one sheet at a time for about 15 minutes. Smaller shapes may bake faster, larger ones take longer. The cookies are done when the tops are opaque and the bottoms slightly browned.

In a small bowl whisk together the egg yolks and water. Pull the finished cookies from the oven, and immediately brush each cookie with a thin layer of the egg wash.

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container. Cookies also freeze well in Ziploc bags or airtight containers.

I Think this recipe is missing molasses. My dough was not nearly the same color and cookies are not sweet enough or chewy enough.

Thank you so much for the detailed instructions- I have almost the identical recipe that I make every year- but no instructions. This is perfect to pass on to my kids :)

A great recipe indeed, shared. Everything is so nicely described that really helped.

German Christmas Cookies, also called Lebkuchen or German gingerbread cookies, are an authentic German cookie that is spicy, soft and incredibly flavorful. You can give them as gifts to your family and friends! Easy to make with aromatic lebkuchen spice mix.

German Christmas Cookies: Lebkuchen

lemon zest

orange zest

anise

fennel seeds

black pepper

(ground)

honey

sugar

lemon

Lebkuchen spice mix

all-purpose flour (you might need more or less than that to form the dough)

First, you need to combine all ingredients for the spice mix or if you are using a store-bought lebkuchen spice, you can skip this step.In a saucepan, combine honey, sugar and butter and cook on medium heat until the sugar has completely dissolved, stirring constantly. Let cool to room temperature. Add 1 egg, lemon zest and Lebkuchen spice mix. Add baking soda, baking powder and flour and knead into a firm dough. Wrap the dough in plastic foil and let it rest for at least 1 hour 30 minutes in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C or 355 ºF. Knead the dough again. Roll thick on floured surface (4-5 mm or 1.5-2 inches). Cut the dough with cookie cutters of your choice.

Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Increase the baking time if you like harder cookies. Immediately remove from the baking tray. Let cool and decorate with glaze or leave plain. Enjoy!

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Lebkuchen - German Gingerbread Cook...

German Christmas Cookies: Lebkuchen

Top 3 german gingerbread cookies recipes from across the web

The most viewed german gingerbread cookies recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

German Gingerbread Cookies

Lebkuchen - German Gingerbread Cook...

German Christmas Cookies: Lebkuchen

The most viewed german gingerbread cookies recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine