Lebkuchen Christmas Biscuits

Lebkuchen are spicy German biscuits that are associated with Christmas and are decorated with icing. They are a bit like gingerbread, but with a deeper, spiced flavour.

They make excellent gifts for teachers and friends. Put them in a pretty, little gift box with some ribbon tied around it, for a special little touch.

This dough is perfect for freezing, so make double and freeze half, wrapped in cling film or baking paper.

AuthorEllenCategory, , DifficultyBeginner

These are a classic German Christmas treat, rich with flavour and spice.

german christmas biscuits recipe kids
Yields1 Serving
Prep Time10 minsCook Time10 minsTotal Time20 mins
For the biscuits
 1 egg yolk
 4 tablespoons of clear honey
 55g butter or margarine
 55g soft brown sugar
 225g plain flour
 1 teaspoon baking powder
 25g cocoa powder
 2 teaspoons ground ginger
 1 teaspoon mixed spice
For the icing
 85g icing sugar
 1 tablespoon lemon juice
 food colouring (optional)
1

Grease a baking tray, set oven to 200℃

2

Put the honey, butter and sugar in a pan over a low heat, stir until butter has melted

3

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, ginger and mixed spice into a bowl and add the egg yolk

4

Mix the melted butter, honey and sugar into the flour mixture and mix to form a ball of dough

5

Place dough on a floured surface and roll out until it is about 0.5cm thick

6

Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes, roll out leftover dough and cut out more shapes

7

Bake the biscuits for 7-8 minutes and leave them to cool on a wire rack

8

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add lemon juice, stirring well

9

If you want to use different colour icing, divide the icing sugar and lemon into separate bowls and add the food colouring, so each bowl can be a different colour

10

When the biscuits are cool, put the icing into an icing bag, squeeze the bag to pipe on the icing.

Kids can do all of this, but they have to be careful with taking it in and out of the oven.

Ingredients

For the biscuits
 1 egg yolk
 4 tablespoons of clear honey
 55g butter or margarine
 55g soft brown sugar
 225g plain flour
 1 teaspoon baking powder
 25g cocoa powder
 2 teaspoons ground ginger
 1 teaspoon mixed spice
For the icing
 85g icing sugar
 1 tablespoon lemon juice
 food colouring (optional)

Directions

1

Grease a baking tray, set oven to 200℃

2

Put the honey, butter and sugar in a pan over a low heat, stir until butter has melted

3

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, ginger and mixed spice into a bowl and add the egg yolk

4

Mix the melted butter, honey and sugar into the flour mixture and mix to form a ball of dough

5

Place dough on a floured surface and roll out until it is about 0.5cm thick

6

Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes, roll out leftover dough and cut out more shapes

7

Bake the biscuits for 7-8 minutes and leave them to cool on a wire rack

8

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add lemon juice, stirring well

9

If you want to use different colour icing, divide the icing sugar and lemon into separate bowls and add the food colouring, so each bowl can be a different colour

10

When the biscuits are cool, put the icing into an icing bag, squeeze the bag to pipe on the icing.

Lebkuchen Christmas Biscuits

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