Since I made my first batch of lebkuchen a couple of weeks ago, I have made I think six more! Four of those batches were for my brothers, though. Joel and I aren’t that mad. This season I wanted to make a traditional German dessert as a way to connect a little with my heritage, so I decided that a spiced-fruity-chocolate-coated cookie was a good way to do that 😸
At my old part-time job, one of the employees would occasionally bring in packaged German cookies, one of which I am pretty sure was lebkuchen. The one I had was completely covered in a chocolate coating and was a little more cakey, but I knew if I liked the pre-packaged version, then the homemade version was definitely going to be tasty!
I made the candied orange peel from scratch and melted down some Guittard dark chocolate chips for the coating.
This is the recipe I used, but I changed a couple of things so here is my version:
240ml heavy/double cream mixed with 15ml lemon juice, room temp (1 cup + 1 TBSP)
480g flour (4 cups)
60g almond flour ( ½ cup)
4 TBSP minced candied orange peel
1 TBSP ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp baking soda/bicarb of soda
½ tsp nutmeg
200g brown sugar (1 cup)
120ml refined coconut oil (or shortening), solid ( ½ cup)
60ml unsulfured molasses (¼ cup)
60ml runny honey (¼ cup)
Slivered almonds for decoration
300g chocolate chips (roughly 1 ½ cups, amount can easily be adjusted)
1. Mix together cream and lemon juice in a small bowl and let stand for at least 10 minutes
2. In a large bowl sift together flour, almond flour, salt, spices, and baking soda/bicarb of soda. Then add the candied peel
3. In a small bowl combine brown sugar, refined coconut oil, molasses, and honey. Beat with a hand mixer for 3 minutes until lighter in color and any bits of coconut oil have been immersed. Then add heavy/double cream and mix until combined
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until fully combined. Push dough up the sides of the bowl to help it cool more evenly, then cover the bowl with a plate and chill in the fridge for about an hour
5. Before the hour is up, preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone liner
6. Scoop out 55g balls of dough, and press the slivered almonds on top in a triangle shape
7. Bake for about 14 minutes. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet while you get the next batch ready. I use the plate I had covering the bowl to line up the next round of cookies. Then, transfer the baked cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. While you’ve got the cookies baking, set up your double boiler. Place a heat-safe bowl on the pot, turn the heat on medium-low and pour the chocolate chips into the bowl. Allow them to melt slowly and give them a stir once they’ve gotten along to help them melt.
9. Generously coat the bottom of each (cooled) cookie with the melted chocolate. I like to let the first coat set in the fridge, then add another coat.
10. Enjoy ♥
Tips & Notes
• I always use all purpose einkorn flour, which I’ve noticed gives a slightly different result from modern wheat flour since it has a lower gluten content
• I always measure my ingredients with a scale. I got this one from Amazon and it even measures milliliters which is really convenient. I like that it’s rechargeable so no batteries are going in the bin!
• Make sure to use refined coconut oil, otherwise your cookies might have a coconut flavor
• I love the Guittard Extra-Dark Chocolate baking chips, so I highly recommend using these for the coating
• When the batch that is in the oven has about 5 minutes left, I’ll pop the cookie dough back in the fridge to ensure it stays cold
Thank you for reading! Talk soon ♥
