These Lebkuchen Shortbread biscuits are very similar in style and flavour to German Gingerbread biscuits, and German Christmas Cookies. They are very easy to make and are perfect if you need to make a batch of festive cookies in a hurry.
It's a great recipe to make with young children at any time of the year, particularly around Christmas time. Get them to choose a favourite cookie cutter, to make their own fun shaped biscuits.
Lebkuchen Spices add warmth and depth to Gingerbread and German Cookies. It makes them taste amazing. Speculaas is similar in flavour, I have a Speculaas (Mixed Spice) recipe if you want to make your own spice mix.
The Spice Mixture for Lebkuchen often consists of Cinnamon, Cloves, Allspice, Coriander, Ginger, Nutmeg, Cardamom and Mace. Try experimenting with spices to make your own blend of flavours.
Other Recipes Containing Spices
I have quite a few recipes using spices, I find it well worth adding even just a quarter or half a teaspoon to cake mixture especially if you are making apple cakes or cakes containing dried fruits. Adding a touch of Cinnamon to sliced apples before adding them to your cake batter can make the world of difference.
Stewed Apple and Custard will taste all the better with a dash of Cinnamon. Try adding some to stewed apple in this Apple Sponge Pudding.
Take a look at some of these recipes and give them a try.
List of Ingredients
Scroll down to find a full list and quantities on the recipe card.
- Soft Brown Sugar - I love baking with brown sugar, this soft brown sugar adds a subtle difference to the flavour. Caster sugar will be fine if that's all you have.
- Butter - Please try to use butter rather than margarine if you can. The flavour will be so much better
- Plain Flour - The kind of flour that does not contain any raising agent
- Corn Flour - This is what makes the shortbread nice and light
- Salt - I prefer to use sea salt that I have ground in a Mortar and Pestle
- Lebkuchen - Mixed Spice or a spice of your choice will be fine, although mixed spice may not contain the exact same spices as Lebkuchen.
How to make Lebkuchen Shortbread
As always, please read the recipe thoroughly and have your ingredients all weighed out. I promise you it makes baking a whole lot easier.
Preheat the oven to 160 deg fan assisted and have ready 2 large baking trays lined with a silicone baking sheet or baking parchment lightly dusted with flour.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until well combined.
Add the sieved flour, cornflour, Lebkuchen spice mix and salt. Mix everything together to form a smooth firm dough. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go along.
Having a scraper attachment on your mixer will help greatly, but if you don't have one, make sure that you scrape the sides of the bowl down as often as you can.
Divide the dough into 2 round equally weighed portions, place these onto the prepared baking sheets and flatten them into 7 inch/18cm circles using a rolling pin. It helps to use the loose bottom from a sandwich tin to get the exact size and shape. See my note below about sizing and thickness. Neaten and decorate the edges with a fork.
Using a knife, mark each round into 8 portions, slicing about halfway through the dough. Using a fork prick rows of holes in each section, this will allow for a more evenly baked shortbread.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 mins or until baked with a slightly golden colour.
You may see the portion markings disappear during baking, so as soon as you take the shortbread biscuits out of the oven, cut the portions all the way through before the shortbread cools completely. Do this before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Alternatively, you can do the final slicing about ¾ of the way through cooking time returning the shortbread back to the oven to finish baking.
Notes and FAQ's for Lebkuchen Shortbread
- Too thin - Try to keep the size of each round of shortbread to within 7 inches. If you roll out the dough too thinly, they will break very easily once baked.
- Too thick - If you roll them out to less than 7 inches they will be thicker and may need an extra few minutes baking time.
Shortbread is usually done baking when it starts to have a slightly golden colour, especially around the edges. It may still be soft in the centre, but it should not be too pale in colour.
You could shape them into Lebkuchen stars and other shapes using your favourite cookie cutter. Or mix some candied fruit to the Lebkuchen cookie dough.
Lebkuchen is a baked Christmas treat of German origin. It is very similar to Gingerbread.
Lebkuchen Shortbread
INGREDIENTS
- 100 g soft brown sugar
- 200 g unsalted butter at room temperature
- 200 g plain flour sieved
- 100 g cornflour sieved
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoons Lebkuchen spice mix
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160 deg fan assisted and have ready 2 large baking trays lined with a silicone baking sheet or baking parchment lightly dusted with flour.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until well combined. This should only take a few minutes.
- Add the sieved flour, cornflour, Lebkuchen spice mix, and salt. Mix everything together to form a smooth firm dough. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go along.
- Having a scraper attachment on your mixer will help greatly, but if you don’t have one, make sure that you scrape the sides of the bowl down as often as you can.
- Divide the dough into 2 round equally weighed portions, place these onto the prepared baking sheets and flatten them into 7 inch/18cm circles using a rolling pin. See my note below about sizing. Neaten and decorate the edges with a fork.
- Using a knife, mark each round into 8 portions, slicing about halfway through the dough. Using a fork prick rows of holes in each section, this will allow for a more evenly baked shortbread.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 mins or until baked with a slightly golden colour.
- You may see the portion markings disappear during baking, so as soon as you take the shortbread biscuits out of the oven, cut the portions all the way through before the shortbread cools completely. Do this before leaving them to cool completely.
- Alternatively, you can do the final slicing about ¾ of the way through cooking time returning the shortbread back to the oven to finish baking.
Notes
NOTES AND FAQ’S
- Too thin – Try to keep the size of each round of shortbread to within 7 inches. If you roll out the dough too thinly, they will break very easily once baked.
- Too thick – If you roll them out to less than 7 inches they will be thicker and may need an extra few minutes baking time.
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