Lebkuchen or German style Gingerbread

We always had these biscuits at Christmas time but they are lovely any time. This is my mum's recipe 😊

Level: Easy

Serves: 36

Prep: 15 minutes + 24h chilling

Cook: 6-8 minutes

Ingredients:

Sugar Biscuits:

2 eggs

100g sugar

½ tsp cinnamon (ground)

¼ tsp cloves (ground)

¼ tsp ginger (ground)

¼ tsp allspice (ground)

1/8 tsp nutmeg (ground)

150g honey (melted)

½ tsp baking soda

325g plain flour

¼ tsp salt

Royal Icing

480g powdered sugar (sifted)

3 tbsp meringue powder

6-10tbsp water (room temp.)

Preparation:

Beat the eggs, sugar and the spices in a mixing bowl until well combined (2-3 minutes). Beat in the warm honey until light and fluffy. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and add the flour mixture bit by bit to the egg mixture until just combined. Cover it with cling film and put it in the fridge for 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. (Fan 180 °C) Line a sheet pan with non-stick baking paper.

On a floured surface knead the dough a little bit. Roll it out to 0.5cm thickness. (Use a lot of flour and work quickly because the dough will start to stick very quickly!) Cut them out with some cookie cutters or roll them into 2cm balls. (If you want to fill them: cut out a circle and fill the middle with ½ tsp cherry jam – or any jam of your choice. Pinch the edges together and form it into a ball.) Put them onto the baking sheet and bake them for 6-8 minutes. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer them onto a cooling rack to cool down completely.

You can decorate them with royal icing or just dip them into melted chocolate, it is up to personal preference.

For the royal icing sift together the sugar and the meringue powder. Add 6 tbsp of water and mix with a hand mixer until smooth (about 2 minutes). Play around with the water to find the consistency you like. (More water - thinner icing, less water – thicker icing.) I like the consistency best when you let the icing drizzle down from a spoon back to the rest of the icing and the surface will smooth out completely within 10-15 seconds. Use gel-based food colouring to have different coloured icing if you want to. The royal icing will dry completely in about 2h but I usually let it dry overnight to be safe.

Enjoy!