Lebkuchen Cookies – This is my paternal grandmother’s recipe for traditional German Christmas cookies with a lemon sugar glaze.
The holiday season isn’t complete in our house without baking up a few batches of Lebkuchen. Growing up I called these German Gingerbread cookies, but this recipe actually has no ginger. Instead, there is a blend of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. If you want a true gingerbread, see this soft gingerbread cookie recipe.
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What is Lebkuchen?
Traditionally lebkuchen is a German Christmas cookie sweetened with honey and brown sugar. It has a slightly spicy flavor thanks to a blend of warm spices known as Lebkuchen spice. These soft cookies were invented sometime in the 13th or 14th century by medieval monks in Franconia, Germany.
Today, lebkuchen is a staple at Christmas Markets throughout Germany and Central Europe. Many regions of Germany have their own lebkuchen recipe. Some versions have orange peel or lemon peel, others are topped with a chocolate glaze, etc. The version I make and the one here comes from my paternal grandmother. I am not entirely sure where hers originated from. She didn’t add any fruit to her German lebkuchen recipe but did add sliced almonds and a tangy lemon sugar glaze to the top of each cookie.
A good lebkuchen has a nice brown color, which comes from the honey in this recipe. You may notice a slight difference in my cookie glaze color. If you glaze your cookies when they are too warm, the icing turns more brown. Completely cooled cookies have that nice white glaze. I wanted to show you both ways just in case. No matter what way you ice them, they taste fantastic!
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Ground nutmeg
- Ground cinnamon
- Baking soda
- Ground cloves
- Allspice
- Egg
- Brown sugar
- Honey
- Dark molasses
- Sliced or Whole Almonds
- Powdered sugar
- Lemon juice
How to Make German Lebkuchen Cookies
When making these German Christmas cookies, it is best to make the dough a day ahead. Once mixed, the dough has to rest in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, but overnight is better. Here’s how to make that dough.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves, and allspice.
2. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg and the brown sugar together for 3 minutes. An electric mixer on low will make this easier. If you are curious why 3 minutes, beating for that amount of time adds more air into the mixture resulting in lighter cookies.
3. Stir in the honey and molasses to the egg/sugar mixture.
4. Add all the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Beat until well blended. Your dough will be crumbled, but when pressed together will hold its shape.
5. Transfer dough to waxed fabric, plastic wrap, or a storage container with a lid. Wrap it up or cover and chill for at least 3 hours.
6. When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350˚F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
7. Turn your dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll dough to a thickness of ¼” to ½”. Use a 3” round cookie cutter to cut out circles or use a knife to cut 3” squares.
8. Place the cookies an inch apart on a cookie sheet and top with a few sliced almonds. There is no need to press them down as they will stick to the cookie as it rises during baking.
9. Bake for 9-10 minutes. They will be done when you can touch the cookie top without leaving an imprint.
10. Remove baking sheets and immediately transfer to a wire cooling rack.
11. While the cookies are cooling, combine the ingredients for the icing in a small bowl.
12. When the cookies are almost completely cooled, dip the top of each cookie in the icing and spread with the back of a knife. You can also use a pastry brush and brush it on. Place the glazed cookie back on the wire rack to dry.
The Best Way to Store Lebkuchen Cookies
After the icing has hardened, you can store your German Christmas cookies in an airtight container with waxed paper between the layers. If you are making these well ahead of an event or making a large batch, you can store them in the freezer. Lebkuchen will last up to three weeks stored this way.
How Do I Do if my Cookies Harden?
If your cookies harden and get too dry, add half of an apple to the sealed container overnight. It adds just the right amount of moisture to make the cookies become soft again. Just be sure to remove the apple after two days, otherwise, mold can start to form.
Want more cookie recipes? Try these:
- Norwegian Kringla Cookies
- German Sour Cream Twists
- Spicy Double Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Lemon Snow Balls
German Lebkuchen Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup dark molasses
- A handful of sliced almonds for decoration
Sugar glaze
- 1 slightly beaten egg white
- 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1/2 to 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
36Serving Size:
1 cookieAmount Per Serving: Calories: 111Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 24mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 1gSugar: 16gProtein: 2g
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you put “add cloves” on your recipe but did not put how much
Whoops. Thanks for catching that. I corrected the recipe. It’s 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves.
Just found this recipe. In the printed version, it never mentions adding the almonds or the chopped fruit. It does say mix wet, and add the mixed dry (flour, etc) to it, but not the ‘extras’. Just noticing. 🙂 I may have to try these.
My Grandmother didn’t put the chopped fruit or almonds in the cookie dough. She only added the slivered almonds on the outside. It’s a little different than the traditional Lebkuchen.
My mother in law as from Germany, cooked good german food of all types, and every fall made German Pretzels and Lebkuchen for the winter. She topped her Lebkuchen with Hickory nut halves, or Black Walnut halves from the trees along the driveway at their farm. Soooooo good! She has long passed, I wish I had her recipes.
We weren’t able to get all of my grandmother’s recipes when she passed. Luckily, we were able to find many of her cookie recipes. There are so many variations of lebkuchen. Some have candied fruit and other nuts too. I’ve never seen them with hickory or walnuts. I’m sure they’re great though.
Thank you for posting this recipe! I’ve been trying to find a recipe for these cookies for years. My grandmother used to send us a box of cookies every Christmas season – these were my favorites! She’d make some with icing and some plain. I doubt she used a recipe either, but I know she didn’t use nuts or candied fruit in hers. I am hoping this is THE ONE. I’ll let you know.
I hope these are close to your grandmother’s. These taste better after a day or so. They also soften up too. Let me know how they turned out for you and if they’re close to your grandmother’s. Enjoy!
This sounds like a great recipe! I didn’t think the Lebkuchen originally had molasses in them. But maybe honey could be used? Could I use the same amount of honey instead of molasses, so 1 cup honey instead of half molasses?
This recipe is very close to my mother in laws recipe. Hers had slightly more flour and a wee bit less of same spices and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. For the glaze, one cup of sugar and half cup water boiled until first indication of threading appears. Brush onto cookies straight from oven. They get very chewy as they age, only getting better when you forget them!