Lebkuchen

Lebkuchen

A German biscuit similar to gingerbread, lebkuchen is easy to make and a great Christmas treat

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 30

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

Freezable

Low-fat

Freeze dough only

Method

  1. Tip the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Heat the honey and butter in a pan over a low heat until the butter melts, then pour into the flour mixture along with the lemon zest. Mix well until the dough is combined and fairly solid. Cover and leave to cool.
  2. Heat oven to 180C/fan160C/gas 4. Using your hands, roll dough into about 30 balls, each 3cm wide, then flatten each one slightly into a disk. Divide the biscuits between two baking trays lined with baking parchment, leaving room for them to expand. Bake for 15 mins, then cool on a wire rack.
  3. To ice the biscuits, mix together the icing sugar, egg white and 1-2 tbsp water to form a smooth, runny icing. Dip the top of each biscuit in the icing and spread with the back of a knife. Leave to dry out in a warm

102 kcalories, protein 2.0g, carbohydrate 16.0g, fat 4.0 g, saturated fat 2.0g, fibre 0.5g, sugar 9.0g, salt 0.16 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, January 2006.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 1-20

  • Binder photo Liz

    15 November 2007

    Liz rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Not what I expected. Very tasty, but I wanted something that resembled the lebkuchen one buys. This was a denser more biscuity morsel. May be the way they were formed. I'll try making them twice as big.

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  • 18 November 2007

    clare rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Very easy to make. They smell like christmas!

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  • 24 November 2007

    Snowball rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Very easy to make and tasted better than the bought ones. I would recommend making thin ones if you want something like the ones from the shop.

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  • 04 October 2008

    AlanWooler commented on this recipe

    Sorry to be so silly, but I am new to cooking. What is "pinch each ground cloves"? Is this one pinch of ground clove?

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  • 02 November 2008

    Wendy commented on this recipe

    In response to AlanWooler, I think they mean a pinch of each of the 3 spices listed

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  • 02 November 2008

    Katie commented on this recipe

    I made these the other day they tasted fantastic, decided I am going to make as Chrsitmas presents for family. just a note for people using fan assisted ovens only bake for 12 minutes. yum.

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  • 22 December 2008

    Qian Dao commented on this recipe

    These biscuits are great!! They bring Christmas cheer. A nice winter warmer any time of year. Try them Metta Qian

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  • 22 December 2008

    Qian Dao rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 03 February 2009

    alexia commented on this recipe

    My daughter asked me to bake her gingerbread-man biscuits, so I have found this recipe. Fantastic taste and what a great fun to make it with your kid. Love it. Definitely will make again

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  • 03 February 2009

    alexia rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • 05 February 2009

    Mrs Horse rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    These biscuits are SO easy to make and were very tasty indeed - I didn't even put the icing on the top and my biscuits disappeared within 5 mintes of setting them down! I will defo make these again!

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  • 09 November 2009

    Cat_Stan commented on this recipe

    Any idea how long these will keep in an airtight container? I want to make some as Christmas presents!

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  • 10 December 2009

    AliR commented on this recipe

    Fantastic :) These will be given as gifts this year for certain. The only change I made was to add a squeeze of lemon-juice into the icing and I also dipped the biscuits 3 times for an extra nice topping.

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  • 13 December 2009

    jiggy rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    These taste fantastic and worked really well. Just a quick tip though - leaving the mixture a bit longer, even after it's cool makes the texture a bit more authentic - in traditional german recipes the mix can be left up to a week! The recipe is fine how it is though, I have a lot of German friends and they were impressed!

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  • 13 December 2009

    jiggy commented on this recipe

    also, they are good covered in dark chocolate too

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  • 17 December 2009

    Vicki rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Yum! These are delicious! Will definitely use this recipe again!

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  • 21 December 2009

    Jo Hicks rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • 22 December 2009

    Jennahead commented on this recipe

    I'm not sure how these are supposed to taste, but I think they are lovely! I'm going to dip the bottoms in dark chocolate as suggested - yum!!

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  • 22 December 2009

    lindam commented on this recipe

    Would they work without the ground almond - I haven't got any and I need to make some emergency christmas biscuits for a breakfast tomorrow.

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  • 24 December 2009

    YogaGoddess rated this recipe

    3 stars

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 30

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 15 mins

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

Freezable

Low-fat

Freeze dough only

Ingredients

  • 250g plain flour
  • 85g ground almonds
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • pinch each ground cloves , grated nutmeg and black pepper
  • 200ml clear honey
  • 85g butter
  • 1 lemon , finely grated zest

FOR THE ICING

  • 100g icing sugar
  • 1 egg white , beaten
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102 kcalories, protein 2.0g, carbohydrate 16.0g, fat 4.0 g, saturated fat 2.0g, fibre 0.5g, sugar 9.0g, salt 0.16 g

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