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Daring Bakers – Lebkuchen

It has been a terribly, terribly long time since I actually completed a Daring Bakers’ Challenge. I feel awful because I love the monthly challenges but for the last six months, every time the deadline loomed I was either away or in a super busy spell that didn’t allow for extra fun in the kitchen. I’m hoping to get a head start for December’s challenge though as it involved baking an absolute favourite of mine.

For November, the challenge called for bakers to produce some delicious cookies from at least two provided recipes. I baked a batch of chocolate sugar cookies via a Pinterest recipe (not that it counts for the challenge I fear…) and also a batch of another Christmas favourite of mine: Lebkuchen.

To be honest, I can’t say I was a huge fan of Lebkuchen as a child. My father (being German) would occasionally bring home bags of Lebkuchen from our local small goods store but the gingery, spicy flavours were all a bit too much for my immature palate which was also decidedly more Japanese than German. I did however love the icing on the Lebkuchen which felt pleasantly crisp on the tooth as you bit into the otherwise soft, pillowy biscuit.

As I’ve grown and my palate has become infinitely more bold, I now adore Lebkuchen. You can taste so many things in a single piece: honey, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg… One just needs some mulled wine to make it a festival of spiciness :)

The recipe for Lebkuchen came from The Pink Whisk with some minor adjustments for personal taste and for use with the Thermomix. I also used some pearlescent powder in the icing sugar mix to finish off the Lebkuchen. Pretty in real life. Hard to capture on camera sadly.

Many thanks to Peta from Peta Eats for hosting the November challenge.

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Lebkuchen
Author: 
Recipe type: Cookies
 

Ingredients
  • 80g honey
  • 115g dark brown sugar (I used Low GI sugar so produced a lighter cookie)
  • 30g butter
  • 225g plain flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 pieces crystallised ginger
  • ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 50g almond meal
  • 2 tbsp icing sugar
  • 1 tsp warm water

Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180C (160C fan-forced).
  2. Place crystallised ginger in TMX bowl and blitz on Speed 8 for 5 seconds. Set aside minced up ginger for later.
  3. Add honey, sugar and butter to TMX bowl and heat on 60C for 1 minute, Speed Soft until butter is melted and sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool.
  4. Add all other ingredients to TMX bowl (except icing sugar and water) and mix on Speed 3 for 10 seconds or until well combined, but not over-processed. You should end up with a shiny dough that is easy to handle.
  5. Transfer dough to separate bowl, cover and store in fridge until cooled or up to 3-days to infuse flavours (highly recommended!)
  6. Place chilled dough on working surface or mat and roll out to about 1cm in thickness. Use flour to stop dough from sticking if needed, or roll dough with a piece of baking paper over it.
  7. Use cookie cutters to make various shapes then place on a lined baking sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes until golden brown.
  8. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack.
  9. Mix icing sugar with the water and brush the sugar mixture over the cookies. Repeat for extra crunch once first layer is dried.

 

 

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