Lebkuchen (German Honey Cookies)
Ingredients
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 2/3 cup honey
- 2/3 cup dark corn syrup
- 4 tablespoons water
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- walnuts or peanuts
- 1 slice bread see notes
Instructions
- Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves.
- In a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, honey, corn syrup and water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes, or until sugar is completely dissolved and ingredients are well combined. Cool to lukewarm and pour into mixer bowl.
- Add eggs and one-third of the flour mixture to the bowl and mix on low speed until well combined. Add another third of the flour mixture and continue to mix, scraping the sides of the bowl to ensure flour is mixed into the batter. Add the final portion of the flour mixture and stir it in by hand. If you have dough hooks for your mixer, you may be able to do all of the mixing with your mixer.
- Store dough in the refrigerator for at least one day (see storage comments in the post above).
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Apply a light coating of cooking spray to cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
- Remove about 1/6 of the dough from the bowl and return remaining dough to refrigerator. Roll dough out on a well-floured, cool surface until it is 1/4" thick. Cut out shapes with well-floured cookie cutters and transfer to cookie sheets, leaving an inch between cookies.
- Add some peanuts or walnuts to the shapes, if desired.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on thickness and size. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack or parchment paper.
Notes
When shapes have been removed from the rolled-out dough, gather the dough scraps and return to refrigerator. When all the original dough has been rolled out once, gather the scraps together and roll out again.
If cut-outs stick to countertop, try running a well-floured spatula underneath to avoid destroying the desired shape.
Why would I list a slice of bread in the ingredients? It's actually an amazing and useful trick. If the honey cookies lose their chewiness and become hard, place a few cookies in a bag with a piece of bread for an hour or two. The moisture from the bread will transfer to the cookies and soften them. Don't leave the bread and cookies together too long though or sogginess will ensue ... and who needs that.