These German Spice cookies known as Lebkuchen are made from scratch and absolutely delicious! Glazed German gingerbread is a Holiday favorite and always the first thing to go on a Christmas cookie tray.
What is Lebkuchen?
Pronounced leyb-koo-kuh n, this traditional German Christmas treat is a soft, spiced cookie with lemon glaze on top. If you have never tried one, the taste is comparable to gingerbread cookies but with a big distinction, which is that these cookies are chewy, not hard.
German Spice Cookies
The word Lebkuchen translates to English as “Christmas cookie” and for good reason, it’s got all the warm, winter tastes like cinnamon, ginger, honey and nutmeg. This cookie was new to me until recently but once I tried it I was hooked. If traditional gingerbread isn’t your thing, I would still give this a try because they are very different!
Ingredients Needed:
The ingredients list is quite long, as it utilizes a large assortment of spices. The only ingredient you may not usually keep around is ground almonds, which you can find in your local grocery store or Walmart. Other than that, most of these things are probably in the pantry.
- Sweeteners – Honey and Brown Sugar
- Butter – We always use unsalted butter and then add the salt to make sure it’s the right amount. Store brands have different amounts of salt content in salted butter.
- Dry ingredients – All-Purpose Flour, Baking Powder and Baking Soda
- Egg – You only need 1 large egg.
- Citrus – Lemon Juice and Lemon Zest
- Ground Almonds – you can buy this already ground of grind the almonds yourself.
- Spices:
- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground Ginger
- Ground Allspice
- Ground Cloves
- Ground Nutmeg
- Fine Sea Salt
For The Glaze:
- Powdered Sugar
- Lemon Juice
- Vanilla Extract
- Rum – optional
How To Make Lebkuchen
Before you begin, make note that this dough does need some rest time, so it’s not a last-minute recipe. It needs at least an hour to rest.
Step 1: Start by heating the honey and sugar together in the microwave until the sugar melts. When it is melted, quickly add in the butter and lemon zest and stir until the butter melts.
Step 2: Next, stir in the egg, all of the spices, the baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Step 3: Stir in the flour and ground almonds and stir until you get a sticky dough. Add a bit of lemon juice as needed.
Step 4: When it’s ready. spray your hands with cooking spray and scoop the dough into a ball. Cover it with a towel and leave the dough at room temperature for an hour – overnight.
Step 5: Make the glaze by simply stirring the ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Step 6: Divide the dough into thirds and roll out each (one at a time) to about 3/4 of an inch thick. Cut out circular cookies.
Step 7: Bake the cookies on 350 degrees for about 12 minutes and let them rest on a wire rack. Add the glaze on top.
If you want to add some chocolate, melt 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips in the microwave and dip the cookies in and transfer them back to the wire rack to cool.
Other Christmas Cookie Recipes:
- Linzer Cookies
- Christmas Spritz Cookies
- Snowball Cookies
- Gingerbread Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Gingerbread Man Cookies
Lebkuchen (German Spice Cookies)
Ingredients
Ingredients
- ½ cup honey
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter cut into cubes
- 1 large egg beaten
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup ground almonds
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
Glaze Ingredients
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp rum optional
Instructions
- In a glass bowl, mix the honey and sugar and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir together well until sugar dissolves (heat another 15-30 seconds if needed).
- Immediately add the butter and lemon zest and stir until the butter melts.
- Stir in the baking powder, soda, salt and spices and egg.
- Add the flour and ground almonds. Mix until you have a soft and slightly sticky dough, adding a little lemon juice as needed. Be careful not to add too much because you will be rolling the dough, just enough to where it’s not dry.
- Spray your hands with cooking spray and gather the dough into a ball.
- Cover the mixing bowl with a towel and leave to rest for at least an hour or even overnight at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile prepare the glaze.
- Mix together all the glaze ingredients in a small bowl until you have a thin glaze.
- Divide the dough into thirds. Roll the dough on a silicone baking mat to 3/4 of an inch thickness to right under 1 inch.
- Cut out circles using a cookie cutter.
- Space the cookies out on the silicone mat and bake for 12 minutes.
- Repeat with remaining dough, gathering up any scraps and rolling out again and bake in batches.
- Transfer the cookies carefully to a wire rack and brush with the glaze while they are still a little warm using a pastry brush.
- Allow the glaze to dry and add a second layer (if desired). Check the recipe notes if you want to cover or dip the Lebkuchen in chocolate.
Last Step:
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Notes
Stir gently until the chocolate chips have melted completely.
Dip the cookies into the melted chocolate and leave to dry on a wire rack before storing.
Nutrition
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197 comments on “Lebkuchen (German Spice Cookies)”
I’ve searched for ages for a good recipe for these as they are difficult to get in my country and other receipies I’ve seen don’t look like your finished product or have the ingredients I’d expect that make them so beautiful! Thank you for sharing I can’t wait to try these homemade xxxx
I too need help before i can make these yummy cookies…Need the directions for high altitude baking..what do i use less of or more of, baking temp and time? Any others who have had success after baking in High Altitude..in general my cookies come out flat
Hi Terri. Hopefully a reader who has made specific high altitude adjustments will answer this as as well. It’s hard the know exactly the correct adjustments for your altitude but typically you would reduce slightly the leavening agents, sugar and butter and slightly increase flour, eggs and liquids.
Hi Jill:)
I am writing you from Bulgaria. I found accidentally your recipe and made the cookies together with my doughter. We want to say you a big „Thank you“. They are so spicy and delicious!
Tip for those who became hard cookies. We had the same problem despite following strict the recipe.We placed them in an airtight container with a slice of bread. On the next day they had become softer.
I absolutely recommend the recipe.
If you want to have Chrismas in a bite, make these lebkuchen.
Hi Nelly. So glad you found our recipe and enjoyed it! Thank you!
These are my all time favorite cookie!! I wanted something different and unique. I now make these every Christmas. They are the most amazing cookie you will ever have!
Thank you Genevra!
I think the thickness was wrong? We made these but they didn’t seem to bake all the way through. The colour was significantly different too. Much lighter.
I love the taste of these cookies. However… Its been a couple of years now that I get the texture all wrong. I measure the dough when I roll it. I do almost an inch thick. Then I use small cookie cutters because the dough spreads quite a bit for me. They taste amazing but the texture is super hard and they turn out really flat. I live at 7500 feet above sea level. Can you help? I REALLY want to get these right. We hang them on our christmas tree and eat them throughout Christmas wirh morning coffee. It would be spectacular if I could get that texture right.
Hi Natasha. These cookies are typically very soft. I feel like they may be overbaked. I would try rolling thinner and suggest letting the dough rest overnight. It’s hard the know exactly the correct adjustments for your altitude but typically you would slightly reduce the leavening agents, sugar and butter and slightly increase flour, eggs and liquids.
I too, live at 7000 ft elevation, you might look at cake box instructions for recommendations for high elevation adjustments and apply them accordingly. That’s what I plan to do.
Did you try forming the dough into balls and baking? I tried a few different thickness but rolling & cookie cutter always made it spread out way more than baking in a ball. I laminated (rolled out then folded on itself a few times) and that helped keep the puff a bit better & reduced spread (baked either cookie cutter or balls). Also make sure your batter is cool before adding leavening agents & flour so they don’t change how they react. I haven’t done the 24 hr rest (we could only wait 6hr) but my research is showing this is a key step – even longer if you can. 18-20 C is ideal, so a cool place vs fridge would be fine. Last tip I found: using ammonium carbonate and potassium carbonate (vs. baking powder/soda) are going to deliver better results. But keep in mind these would require a different recipe for these new ingredients.
Awesome! Used lemons from our lemon tree and everyone is raving about this recipe.
Yay! Thanks Chris!
After recently visiting the Christmas markets in Cologne I wanted to find an authentic recipe to try. This looked the closest to the ones we sampled and they did not disappoint.
I left the dough over night in the fridge, a step I did question in my head, but this produced a really lovely workable dough. I cut out with a 3″ cutter at around 1/4″ thick. The did spread slightly, but the taste is amazing and very true to the Lebkuchen we tried. Thank you.
Thanks Helen!
Since all I had was almond flour I used the drop cookie method and baked for 15 min. I added some cardamom and candied ginger to the mix because I’m looking for a deeply spiced flavor. Used I layer of glaze. Excellent recipe.
Thanks Tam!
Used almond flour as well. Only let the dough sit for 30 minutes. Rolled them into 1 3/4” rolls. Sliced them at 3/4” and put them on a cookie sheet. Baked for 12 minutes. Came out perfect. 2.5” cookies. Awesome recipe. Everyone raves about them. Thank you!
Thanks so much for the recipe. Do we really leave the dough (with egg in it) at room temperature overnight?
Hi Mandy. If you’d like you can leave at room temp for a few hours and then refrigerate overnight.