Lebkuchen (German Spice Cookies)

My mother-in-law spent some of her growing up years in Germany. She has fond memories of German baked goods and introduced me to these amazing cookies, lebkuchen. They are a Christmas treat and available in stores if you look hard enough (Trader Joe's sells them at Christmas), but you know I like to make things myself. 

Maybe there are recipes for lebkuchen online in German, but the ones I found in English do not use the traditional method for making lebkucken, which involves fermenting the dough for a few months. I found a loose recipe here. This recipe calls for rye flour, honey, and treacle for the fermented dough. I did not have treacle and did not look around to see if it was available to buy. Instead I replaced the treacle with more honey. 

Lebkuchen are more cakey in texture, and so to help hold them together, they are baked on top of an edible wafer, called Back Oblaten. I bought these online at Amazon. There are different sizes, but try to get 70mm or something close to that size. They last at least a few years (opened, even) from my experience. 

So here's what I did for my lebkuchen, and I would say they were a success and pretty close to the cookies I've eaten (including some from a local German baker). I am confident you can have success too, if you're willing to start the process in September or October!

For Fermented Dough

1 kg rye flour (or spelt flour), about 9 3/4 cups

1 kg honey, about 3 cups

To Add to Dough on Baking Day 

1 c. candied lemon and orange peel, finely chopped (see recipe to make your own)  

gingerbread spice (see recipe below) 

2 T. baking powder 

2 tsp. soda 

a few tablespoons milk 

pinch of salt

1 c. finely chopped nuts, like almonds 

more water or rye flour, as needed 

dark chocolate

Gingerbread Spice (Lubkuchengewuerz) 

2 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon 

2 tsp. cloves 

1 tsp. ginger 

1/2 tsp. allspice 

1/2 tsp. ground star anise 

1/4 tsp. mace 

1/4 tsp. nutmeg 

1/2 tsp. coriander 

1/2 tsp. cardamom 

For December baking, in September or October make the dough. In a medium or large stainless steel pot, add the honey and heat slowly to 99 degrees Farenheit. Remove from heat, and add rye flour. Mix well. Put the lid on the pot and store in a dark, cool place until December. If you check on the dough, you may see small air bubbles, which means it is fermenting. 

 
When ready to bake in December, the day before, prepare the candied lemon and orange peel, if making your own. Mix up the spice mix. If you don't have all the spices, just use the ones you have.

Warm a small amount of milk (a few tablespoons) to lukewarm, and stir in 2 T. baking powder and 2 tsp. baking soda. Stir until dissolved. 

 
In a large bowl, add fermented dough, milk with baking soda and powder, a pinch of salt, gingerbread spice, and chopped nuts. Mix well. You may need to use your hands to combine it well. If needed, you may need to add more rye flour if the dough is too wet, or more water to loosen up thick dough. The dough consistency to aim for is thick. Here's what mine looked like, though I think it could have been a tad stiffer:

Once the dough is the right consistency, mix in the candied orange and lemon peel. On cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, lay out the wafers spaced a few inches apart. Scoop dough onto the middle of the wafer. They will flatten and spread in the oven. I did a test bake with just a few cookies to try and figure out the best amout of dough for the wafer. Here is the bottom of my cookies, with the baked cookie just a tad bigger than the wafer. Bake the cookies on a low rack in the oven at 350 degrees Farenheit for 15-18 minutes.

Let the cookies cool for a few minutes, and use a spatula to remove them to a cooling rack. Once completely cool, melt chocolate and cover the tops of the cookies with the chocolate. Let cool and harden completely. The cookies will keep for several weeks.