Glazed German lebkuchen biscuits
These German lebkuchen are made with both honey and treacle, dark brown soft sugar, lemon juice and zest, walnuts and loads of gorgeous 'wintry' spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice). As in many traditional lebkuchen recipes, the dough is set aside to rest for a few hours to overnight before baking.
Ingredients
Serves: 72
- 120ml honey
- 120ml treacle
- 165g dark brown soft sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 350g plain flour
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 60g chopped walnuts
- 120g chopped candied citron or lemon peel
- 200g caster sugar
- 120ml water
- 4 tablespoons icing sugar
Method
Prep:25min ›
Cook:10min ›
Ready in:35min
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together honey and treacle. Bring to the boil and remove from heat. Stir in the dark brown soft sugar, egg, lemon juice and lemon zest until well blended. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, bicarb, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice. Stir the ingredients from the saucepan into the bowl and blend well. Mix in the walnuts and candied citron. Cover the dough and chill for several hours or overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 200 C / Gas 6. Grease baking trays.
- Using a small amount of dough at a time, roll out to .5cm thickness on a floured surface. Cut into small rectangles. Place the rectangles 2.5cm apart onto the prepared baking trays.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. Brush with glaze while hot from the oven.
- To make the glaze: Combine the 200g sugar with water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat to between 112 and 116 degrees C on a sugar thermometer or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface. Remove from heat and stir in icing sugar until smooth. Brush over hot biscuits.
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Reviews & ratings
Average global rating:
(14)
Reviews in English (12)
This is the old Betty Crocker cookbook version that I grew up with--a favorite Christmas cookie, for sure!!! But I seem to remember an amount of time to boil the glaze, like maybe 5 minutes? If you're finding the dough too sticky, it's probably because you're using a mixer. That makes a softer dough, for some reason. I boil the honey/molasses mixture in a medium sized saucepan, then add the other ingredients and stir by hand--finishing up WITH my hands since it's too stiff for me to finish up stirring. I refrigerate in 4 disks wrapped in plastic wrap. After that, I dust the dough with flour on each side, roll a bit, dust again and repeat if needed. No sticky problems! I found that 9 minutes was just right in my oven. For best flavor and texture, you'll need to put the cookies in a sealed container with a slice of apple or orange for a month or so, changing the fruit every few days. They'll become soft and chewy, with a marvelously complex, spicy fruity flavor! - 14 Nov 2010 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
Having moved away from home (and away from German cookie bakers), I decided to try making these for the first time, and I'm happy to report, that this recipe was great! The only thing that I changed was that I used a bit more citron and nuts than was called for, and I used chopped pecans. Before baking, I pressed a pecan half into the center of each cookie. Also, I used a lemon glaze - something that I think is necessary. To make, juice one lemon and add enough powdered sugar to make somewhat thick. Spread on when cookies are still hot from oven. In terms of stickiness, this dough is quite sticky, but it is definitely manageable. Make sure you chill it overnight, and do not add a lot of flour into the dough as you roll. Before placing the cookies on the sheets, I blew off any and all flour I could. The cookies turned out great; I have the last sheet in the oven now... - 21 Dec 2008 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
I found this exact recipe in Betty Crocker's "Cookie Book". I have no idea how the cookies are supposed to turn out, I think they're okay, but I'm online searching for a better recipe. Even though I refrigerated for longer than 8 hours, it was a very sticky dough and I had to use a lot of flour when rolling it out. I found that the cookies burned when they were in at 400; when the oven was between 350 and 375 degrees they baked in 10 minutes. - 26 Dec 2004 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)