Chocolate Lebkuchen Cookies

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5 from 6 votes

Chocolate Lebkuchen Cookies

Easy and delicious festive German Lebkuchen dipped in chocolate a great snack or edible gift!

Prep Time30

Cook Time10

Total Time40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: German

Servings: biscuits

Calories: 107kcal

Author: Sasha Hooper

Equipment

Ingredients

½ cup honey 160g
1 stick unsalted butter 113g
½ cup almond flour 50g
2 cups all purpose flour 260g
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda bicarbonate of soda
4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
10 ½ ounces dark chocolate 300g, melted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 160°C/140°C fan.
Melt the honey and the butter together in a small saucepan over a gentle heat. Leave to cool for 15 minutes.
½ cup honey, 1 stick unsalted butter
In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Pour in the honey and butter mixture and stir together using a wooden spoon until a dough forms.
½ cup almond flour, 2 cups all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, 4 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground allspice, 2 teaspoons cocoa powder, ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Roll out the dough to about 2cm thick, Cut out shapes using a small cookie cutter. I like hearts and stars and I used a 4cm cutter. Alternatively, just roll out small balls of dough and squish them down gently so that they're 2cm thick. Keep re-rolling the dough until you've used it all up.
Place the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper or a non-stick liner - you'll probably need to use 2 or 3.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until pale golden. Let cool for a few minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorate as you wish - coat completely in chocolate (my favourite!), half dip them or just dip the bases and drizzle with more chocolate. It's up to you! Leave to set at room temperature and then enjoy!
10 ½ ounces dark chocolate

Notes

Low heat - Melt the butter and honey together over a low heat you'll save time in needing to cool it for longer, it needs to be room temperature before mixing into the dry as if it is too hot the heat will activate the baking powder.

Make ahead - I highly recommend making these ahead of time for when you want them as they get better with age.

Apple trick - store the lebkuchen in an airtight container with layers of parchment between them. Place half an apple cut side up in the container with the lebkuchen and leave it for 3-4 days. Doing this provides a little moisture in the container which helps them soften and become that well known lebkuchen texture.

Reroll the dough - using cookie cutters leaves you with offcuts of dough, just reform it and roll it out again no need to waste anything at all.

Cookie cutters - I used cookie cutters measuring 2 inches (4cm) across, if you make larger cookies just be prepared to bake them for longer.

Recipe barely adapted from the lebkuchen recipe in Gingerbread Wonderland via Psychologies Magazine.

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