German Lebkuchen (Elisenlebkuchen) | German Christmas Baking

This is another German Christmas classic – Lebkuchen! Germany´s answer to gingerbread! This type of Lebkuchen, the Elisenlebkuchen, has a soft, almost cake-like texture and is made with ground nuts, honey and plenty of spices! Finally, you can decorate your Lebkuchen with either water icing or melted dark chocolate! Lebkuchen are perfect to make as presents for friends and family, as well as for you to enjoy with a cup of tea, coffee, hot chocolate or some good-old German Glühwein (mulled wine)!

Lebkuchen taste best after being left to mature for a few days! Store them in an airtight container until ready to serve or to pack into little gift bags and share with your friends!

What goes into these German Lebkuchen?

The key components for a good German soft Lebkuchen (Elisenlebkuchen) are mixed peel, ground nuts and spices! I used mixed peel in my recipe, but you could use any candied fruit peel you like or can find: mixed, just orange or just lemon!

Regarding the ground nuts in this recipe, I like using a mixture of ground hazelnuts and almonds. Again, if you are unable to get any of these, you can just use one or the other. In the UK, it is often hard to find ground hazelnuts, but don´t forget you can grind them yourself by blitzing whole hazelnuts in a mini food processor (this is the one I use). Just do that before you start the recipe (no need to wash out the food processor before starting).

Typically, Lebkuchen are baked on top of “Oblaten” – think of them as disks of thin, edible wafer or sugar paper. You could cut out disks of that if you can find it, or buy Backoblaten from Amazon. If not, you can also make Lebkuchen without Oblaten, it will just mean they might be a little unstable.

Finally, the most important thing are the spices! In Germany, you are able to buy a spice mix especially for Lebkuchen (“Lebkuchengewürz”). If you cannot find it or don´t want to buy it online, don´t worry – it´s perfectly easy to make yourself…

How to make your own Spice Mix for the Lebkuchen – Lebkuchengewürz

Lebkuchengewürz can be bought in little sachets in Germany, just like you can buy pumpkin spice mix in the US (and no where else in the world….?). But just like pumpkin spice, Lebkuchengewürz is also just a pre-made mixture of ground spices – which is easy enough to mix together yourself at home! The below quantities will probably make more than you will need for this recipe, but you can store the remaining in a jar to use next time, or add it to a biscuit dough to make Gingerbread Men!

To make your own Lebkuchengewürz, mix together the following:

2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground star anise

Again, don´t worry if you cannot find all of these ingredients/spices. Just use what you have/can find – it won´t be the end of the world and will probably be close enough! If you don´t want to make a jar of the spice mix, just use the quantities of spice listed in the recipe below!

More Christmas Biscuit Recipes

For more Christmas baking recipe inspiration, check out some of my other recipes below:

German Soft Lebkuchen (Elisenlebkuchen) | German Christmas Baking

Recipe

Ingredients:

FOR THE LEBKUCHEN:

100g mixed peel
100g plain flour (plus 1 tbsp)
100g ground hazelnuts
100g ground almonds
250g runny honey
50g brown sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
15g Lebkuchengewürz (see recipe above), or, 1 tsp cinnamon and ground ginger, ½ tsp ground cloves, nutmeg, ground star anise and ground mixed spice.
2 drops almond essence (optional)
1 M egg
15 Backoblaten, 7cm diameter (optional)

TO DECORATE:

100g icing sugar
Lemon juice or cold water
150g dark or milk chocolate, roughly chopped
1 tsp coconut or sunflower oil
Blanched almonds, halved

Method:

Place the mixed peel alongside 1 tbsp of flour into the bowl of a food processor. Blitz until the mixed peel has been cut into very small pieces. Add in the remaining flour, ground hazelnuts and almonds and blitz a few times until well combined.
Tip the finely blitzed dry ingredients into a baking bowl. Add the honey, sugar, cocoa powder, egg, almond essence (optional) and spices to the bowl, then mix with a metal spoon until everything is fully incorporated. You may want to use your hands at the end to bring together the mixture completely.
Cover the mix with clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge to firm up for about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two large baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
Roll the chilled Lebkuchen mixture into 15 balls, about 50g each. Carefully press each bit of dough onto a Backoblate (if you are using them, if not just do this on the baking paper). Cup your hand over the dough and gently easy it down at the sides, to create a dome-shape. Leave a few millimetres around the edge of the Backoblate free to allow for spreading.
Bake the Lebkuchen in the preheated oven for 12-18 minutes until golden.
In the meantime, prepare the icing sugar and dark chocolate topping (to do only one rather than both, simply double the quantities of your choice above). For the chocolate topping, place the chocolate and coconut oil into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Gently heat and stir until the chocolate has fully melted, then remove the bowl from the heat.
To make the water icing, mix together the icing sugar with some lemon juice or water. Add a little at a time, mixing well between each addition, until the icing reaches a smooth and relatively thick consistency.
Once you remove the Lebkuchen from the oven, immediately brush half of them with the water icing until fully coated. This will allow the icing to seep into the Lebkuchen a little while they are still warm and create a thick sugar coating. Top with three almond halves to decorate.
Leave the remaining Lebkuchen to cool for about 5-10 minutes and place on a wire rack. Put a plate or some baking paper underneath to catch any drips. Spoon the melted chocolate on top, making sure to cover all the sides, then decorate with the almond halves.
Leave the Lebkuchen to cool and the icing/chocolate to set completely before moving. You can then store them in an airtight tin for up to four weeks. The Lebkuchen taste best if left to mature for a few days!