Being German I always feel a deeper responsibility to bake cookies leading up to the holiday season. My mom always made loads of Christmas cookies with us when we were little. One of my all time favorites are Lebkuchen (gingerbread – not necessarily man). Most German recipes ask for Lebkuchen spice which in Germany they will sell you in every supermarket. Because the week in Germany was so busy of course I forgot – sigh. Already last year I experimented with it and made my own. Online you can find them in various spice combinations but the main ingredient is always cinnamon. In my opinion you can’t really go wrong with that.
So here is my recipe for Lebkuchen spice:
35g ground cinnamon
8g ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground star anise
I almost wanted to start the baking today but a) I am still not feeling that great and b) I also have four loads of laundry waiting to be folded. But here for good measure is my go to recipe for Lebkuchen:
500g honey
250g sugar
1 pinch salt
15g Lebkuchen spice
15g chocolate powder
200g butter
2 eggs
1kg flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Technically it is a honey cake dough. First you mix honey, sugar, salt, the Lebkuchen spice and chocolate powder in a cooking pot. The butter is cut up in smaller pieces and added. You warm the mixture up on the stove until the sugar is dissolved. This needs to cool down a bit before you add both eggs and mix them under with a cooking spoon.
The flour, baking powder and baking soda is mixed and then you add the honey mixture. You stir it under until that gets to hard. The dough is kneaded with both hands and when everything is incorporated well you form two flat rounds and wrap them up in foil to store in the fridge for two hours.
The dough is rolled out on a floured surface at ~1/4 inch and then you can cut out your shapes. You can use forms or make your own. One year we cut out house shapes and decorated those.
Baking at 400 degree Fahrenheit takes 10-15 minutes.
For decorating you can basically use whatever you prefer. My recipe uses 200g powdered sugar mixed with very stiff egg white from 1 egg white.
Do you like cinnamon or do you hate it? Do you have a favorite cookie recipe you do over and over again?
Home here and there 
thanks for sharing the recipe. are these for eating or decorating? how long does it keep? I love baking cookies for the family.
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They can be both. I usually don’t decorate with cookies because in California there are lots of ants. They last quite a while. I think we had them 4 weeks and they were totally fine.
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I’ve an old recipe of my grandma and there is the Lebkuchen spice all self mixed so I always have that in case I need it. I dont think I have ever baked a Lebkuchen that had eggs in it though. Interesting. I bake different ones every year or at least I am rotating because otherwise I would weight 300 kg more. My all-time favorite of the last year is my spicy chai cookies: https://www.craftaliciousme.com/spicy-chai-cookies-time-favorite/ And I also like my Nougat Buttons https://www.craftaliciousme.com/nougat-buttons-a-favorite-christmas-cookie/ Those two usually get made.
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Spicy chai cookies sound really good. I may try those this year.
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I LOVE cinnamon but I don’t think I’ve ever made my own Lebkuchen. We’re a Spritzgebäck family 🙂 It’s a whole production in our family and all generations get involved 🙂
Thanks for sharing your recipe though. I might have to give this a try.
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When eating out my dad”s kitchen we found out that his kitchen machine has an attachment for Spritzgebäck. He sounded determined to give it a try.
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My husband LOVES Lebkuchen! I bet he would enjoy making our own. Thanks for the recipe!
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Maybe you can share how it went.
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I love cinnamon!!! We always make gingerbread cookies. They look a little similar to your cookies, but they have molasses instead of honey and the spices are similar, but not quite the same. Are those spiral ones cinnamon roll cookies? If so, I make those as well! Your whole cookie plate looks delicious.
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Thank you Jenny! The spirals are called black and white cookies. You just add chocolate powder to half the dough and some extra milk. Cinnamon roll cookies sounds really good though. Sorry, my recipes are not vegan.
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