Soft German cookies with the perfect combination of spices and citrus zest make lebkuchen a must-to-bake for Christmas. The cookie dough is aged for a few days for maximum flavor. This is the easier version compared to the traditional lebkuchen, but they are still very tasty.
Put honey and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until the sugar dissolves. Stir in butter. Let it cools down to lukewarm. Crack one egg in a bowl and then whisk. Add 1/2 of the egg, lemon zest and juice into the honey mixture
125 gr honey, 85 gr dark brown sugar, 30 gr unsalted butter, 1 tsp zest of lemon, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 25 gr egg
Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add wet ingredients and stir into a sticky dough. Cover tightly with a cling wrap and keep in the fridge for at least 12 hours, but I recommend 24 hours if you can. The flavor gets better
Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven. If you use top and bottom heat, lower the temperature to 330 F (165 C). Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper. Lightly flour your working surface and rolling pin. The dough is cold and easier to work with at this point. Lightly dust the dough with a bit of flour and roll it out to 1/4 inch (6 mm) thickness, don't roll too thin. Use a cookie cutter to cut into shapes and place on a baking pan lined with parchment paper, about 1 inch apart. Dust off excess flour with a pastry brush
Gather the dough scrap and roll again into 1/4 inch thick and cut to shape again
Bake:
Position the baking pans on the upper and lower third of the oven. Put the baking trays on the upper and lower third rack and bake for 12 minutes, rotating the tray front to back, top to bottom halfway through baking. Watch the time closely as the honey may get burnt easily if you overbake
Prepare the glaze while cookies are baking:
Mix the icing sugar with water or apple juice or brandy, whichever you choose to use
60 gr icing sugar, 1 Tbsp water, apple juice, or brandy
Cool down:
Let the cookies cool down on the baking pan for about 5 minutes and then loosen them with an offset spatula. The cookies are still warm at this point. Immediately brush the cookies with the glaze and then transfer to a cooling rack and let them cool down and the icing dry completely
Age the cookies:
If you are patient enough, transfer the completely cooled-down cookies to air-tight containers separated by layers of parchment paper. Let the cookies "age" for at least another day or 3 days if you are that patient. The flavor seriously gets better
The cookies can be stored at room temperature for about 2 weeks