How to Make Lebkuchen

Lebkuchen is a German biscuit-type treat thats meant to sort of resemble gingerbread (but FAAAARRRR better). Its a typical German Christmas biscuit and is a fantastic and really easy way to make some form of festive bakes goods :)

Plus it makes your house smell AMAZING!

Ok so what you will need is...

250g  (or 2 cups if you don't have scales) plain flour
85g (6 tbsp) ground almonds
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of cloves
pinch of grated nutmeg
pinch of black pepper
200ml (13 tbsp) clear honey
85g (6 tbsp) butter
1 lemons grated zest
100g (10 1/2 tbsp) icing sugar
1 egg white, beaten

utensil-wise you will need...

a wooden spoon/spatula
tablespoon
teaspoon
a small grater/zester
2 medium sized bpwls (make sure one is glass as this will be heated)
a saucepan that allows the glass bowl to sit on top like this....

Set your oven to 180C. That's gas mark 4 and if you have a fan assisted oven set it to 160C

Okay, so put the flour, ground almonds, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, cloves, grated nutmeg and pepper into one of the bowls and mix them about so they're distributed evenly.

Place the butter and honey into the GLASS bowl. Next put water into the saucepan, however only fill half way (you don't want to butter and honey to burn) and allow to boil on a medium/low heat. Once slightly bubbling, put the glass bowl on top of the saucepan and mix until all the butter and honey has melted together and has created a runny golden liquid.

Add the melted honey and butter to the dry ingredients and stir until it creates a solid dough like this...

Now leave to cool for about 10 minutes as it will still be warm from the melted butter and honey. Once cooled, roll the dough into about 15/20 balls and flatten slightly.

Place on a greased baking tray (i used that spray oil stuff and it worked really well)

Then bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. The biscuits should be golden brown once cooked. Set aside to cool as they will need to be relatively cold for the icing.

Measure the icing into a bowl. So now separate the white from the yolk and discard the yolk. Beat the egg white until frothy.

Add the egg to the icing sugar and add 1 tablespoon of water.

Mix together until it has a smooth and runny consistency...

So now your biscuits are cooler and your icing is ready dip each biscuit into the icing and set aside on a tray or on a plate to dry.

It will only have a light coating of icing on it, but don't worry! The icing is REALLY sweet so if it had been any thicker it would take away the taste of the actual Lebkuchen.

These make great gifts when wrapped in tissue paper or plastic wrapping and laced in a fancy gift bag :)

Hope you enjoy making these as much as I do.