These glazed lebkuchen taste like…my childhood. 

My mom used to make lebkuchen each December and we’d have a little party cutting out fun shapes and icing them with every colour glaze imaginable. They may not have always looked the greatest, but the taste never failed to please.

The sweet warmth of the spices is a ‘taste bud memory’ that brings a smile to my face. But even if these cookies had no memories attached, I would still be absolutely obsessed, because they’re just that good.

How to Make the Glazed Lebkuchen

Luckily, the glazed lebkuchen are really easy to make, because you’re going to be making them a lot!

The only slightly bothersome part is you have to think ahead slightly – they need a few hours to just chill in the fridge.

Okay, here’s how it goes. Start off by beating together the butter, honey, and sugar until creamy, using an electric beater. Then, beat in the vanilla essence and egg.

Add the cinnamon, ginger, mixed spice, salt, cocoa powder, and about 3 cups of self-raising flour and beat it all together. You want an unsticky, pretty hard consistency. Add the extra ½ cup of flour if you need it.

Cover the bowl with plastic film and leave it in the fridge overnight, or for at least 3 hours. This will ensure that your cookies keep their shape in the oven.

After chilling the dough, roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 0.5cm. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes, then place them on the baking tray (you don’t have to leave much space between cookies). Roll and cut until the dough is used up. 

Bake the cookies until golden brown. For crispy cookies, dry them out in the oven at a very low temperature for 2 hours.

For the glaze, mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice to form a very thick mixture. Stir in a drop of  your desired food colouring. Dip the cookies into the glaze, or use a teaspoon to spread it over the cookies. Allow the glaze to harden before storing the cookies in an airtight container.

Print Recipe

Glazed Lebkuchen

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Sweet

Serves: 2 baking trays full of cookies

Prep Time: 30 minutes (plus a few hours chilling) – Cooking Time: 10 minutes – Total Time: 40 minutes (plus a few hours chilling)

These Christmas cookies will warm you up right from the inside with their yummy spices. You can skip on the glaze, but it really adds something with the slight tartness of the lemon - and besides, you can have lots of fun doing glaze artworks on your cookies!

Ingredients

• Lebkuchen Cookies
• 125g butter, softened
• ½ cup honey
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla essence
• 1 egg (at room temp.)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ginger
• ½ tsp mixed spice
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1T cocoa powder
• 2½ - 3 cups self-raising flour
• Glaze
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1-2T lemon juice
• Food colouring

Instructions

Lebkuchen Cookies

1

Beat together the butter, honey, and sugar until creamy.

2

Beat in the vanilla essence and egg.

3

Add the cinnamon, ginger, mixed spice, salt, cocoa powder, and 3 cups of self-raising flour and beat. You want a pretty thick, sticky mixture. Add the extra ½ cup of flour if you need it.

4

Cover the bowl with plastic film and leave it in the fridge overnight, or for at least 3 hours.

5

Preheat the oven to 165°C and line a large baking tray with baking paper. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 0.5cm. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes, then place them on the baking tray (you don’t have to leave much space between cookies). Roll and cut until the dough is used up.

6

Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown. For crispy cookies, dry them out in the oven at a very low temperature for 2 hours.

Glaze

7

For the glaze, mix together the icing sugar and lemon juice to form a very thick mixture. Stir in a drop of your desired food colouring.

8

Dip the cookies into the glaze, or use a teaspoon to spread it over the cookies. Allow the glaze to harden before storing the cookies in an airtight container.

After trying out these Christmas cookies, you should give these chocolate hazelnut ones a go.