Glazed Lebkuchen Food

GERMAN LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• In a large bowl, beat the egg, brown sugar and honey until smooth. Stir in the molasses. Combine the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and allspice; stir into the molasses mixture. Stir in the almonds and candied fruit peel. Cover or wrap dough, and chill overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into 2x3 inch rectangles. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. While still warm, brush the cookies with the lemon glaze.
• To make the glaze: In a small bowl, stir together the egg white, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix in the confectioners' sugar until smooth. Brush over cookies.

LEBKUCHEN COOKIES

Steps:

• Prepare the Cookies: In a 1½ quart saucepan, combine the honey and muscovado sugar. Over medium-high heat, stir gently until the sugar begins to dissolve and the mixture just begins to come to a simmer. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool until warm to touch. Whisk in the egg and lemon zest and juice.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
• On low speed, stir in the wet ingredients until a smooth, sticky dough forms. Laura's Note: This will be slack and loose, don't worry! Scrape the dough into a lightly oiled ceramic bowl and cover with a plate - you want the dough to be able to breathe.
• Allow the dough to "ripen" at cool room temperature for 1 to 2 days - do not refrigerate. (The large amount of honey and sugar will keep bacteria at bay.)
• Position racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat it to 350°F (180°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Turn out the dough onto a well-floured work surface. Roll it out to a ¼-inch/6 mm thickness. Use a bench scraper or thin spatula to get under the dough and scoot it around in the flour occasionaly to prevent sticking. Cut shapes with 2-inch/5 cm cutters and place 1 inch/2½ cm apart on the prepared baking sheets. Sweep away any excess flour with a pastry brush.
• Bake until fragrant and lightly browned, about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time. (Watch closely, as honey in the dough can make the edges catch and burn quickly.)
• Prepare the Glaze: In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar, egg white, lemon juice, and salt for a smooth, thin, runny glaze. (Add a few drops of lemon juice, as needed, to achieve this consistency).
• Let the cookies firm up and cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Run an offset spatula under the cookies to gently looesn them from the parchment paper, leaving them on the sheets.
• While still warm, brush the cookies with glaze and transfer to wire racks. Allow the cookies to cool and the glaze to dry completely.
• The secret to a perfect lebkuchen texture is in the resting phase: place the cookies into airtight containers in layers, seperated by parchment or wax paper. Tuck a wedge of apple in the container before sealing. Store in a cool place for at least 3 days, or up to 2 weeks, to allow the cookies to ripen once more before serving.

GLAZED LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, bring honey to a boil. Remove from the heat; cool to room temperature. Meanwhile in a large bowl, beat honey and sugars until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, cloves and allspice; gradually add to honey mixture. Stir in the nuts, citron and lemon peel (mixture will be thick)., Press into a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 20-28 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched. , Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla. Spread over bars while warm. Immediately cut into bars. Decorate with cherries and citron. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Pulse almonds and hazelnuts in a food processor until very finely chopped. Add candied peels and dates, and pulse until finely chopped. Add almond paste, and pulse to combine. Add jam, and pulse. Add eggs and brown sugar, and pulse. Add flour mixture, and pulse. Transfer dough to an airtight container, and refrigerate overnight (or up to 3 days).
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Using a 2-inch ice cream scoop (1/4 cup), drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing cookies 3 inches apart. Place 3 almonds close together on top of each cookie. Bake until golden brown, about 14 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
• Whisk together confectioners' sugar and milk, and brush over cooled cookies. Let stand until set.

LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• Tip the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Heat the honey and butter in a pan over a low heat until the butter melts, then pour into the flour mixture along with the lemon zest. Mix well until the dough is combined and fairly solid. Cover and leave to cool.
• Heat oven to 180C/fan160C/gas 4. Using your hands, roll dough into about 30 balls, each 3cm wide, then flatten each one slightly into a disk. Divide the biscuits between two baking trays lined with baking parchment, leaving room for them to expand. Bake for 15 mins, then cool on a wire rack.
• To ice the biscuits, mix together the icing sugar, egg white and 1-2 tbsp water to form a smooth, runny icing. Dip the top of each biscuit in the icing and spread with the back of a knife. Leave to dry out in a warm room.

LEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• Mix honey, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup water in medium saucepan and bring to boil. Simmer for 5 minutes and remove from heat. Add 1/2 cup butter to the sugar mixture (to melt) and cool this mixture approx 30 minutes.
• While the sugar mixture cools, mix the flour, soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, nuts, and fruit in a large mixer bowl.
• Add the cooled sugar/butter mixture to the flour mixture along with the 2 slightly beaten eggs. and mix thoroughly. I use my kitchen aid mixer with the dough attachment. The dough will be thick, and sticky.
• Place the dough in a covered plastic or glass container and let the dough "ripen" for a few days in the refrigerator.
• On baking day: Roll the dough on a slightly floured board to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut the rolled dough into 1 x 3 inch strips and place on a greased baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for 10 - 12 minutes. Cool on wire rack, and cover with transparent glaze. Lebkuchen should ripen in cake box or plastic container at lease one day before serving.
• For the transparent glaze, mix the sugar, water, vanilla together and spread thinly on the cookies.

NUERNBERGER ELISENLEBKUCHEN

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 F or 150 C and grease cookie sheet. If you have a silicon cookie sheet, this works best.
• Cream together eggs and sugar at high speed until you have a thick yellow cream. This will take some time, but don't stop beating before the mixture is really thick and creamy!
• Mix in spices, rum, vanilla and candied peel, then fold in ground almonds, nuts and baking powder.
• Drop heaped teaspoons full of batter onto greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly.
• Bake at 300 degrees 25 - 35 minutes.
• For the light glaze stir together 3 1/2 ounces powdered sugar with just as much hot water that you get a thick creamy icing.
• For the dark glaze stir together 3 1/2 ounces powdered sugar with the cocoa powder, melt the coconut oil and mix with sugar and cocoa, add just enough hot water to have a smooth thick creamy icing.
• Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven glaze half of them with light and half with dark icing.
• Let cool completely and store in airtight container in a cool place.

LEBKUCHEN (GERMAN HONEY BARS)

Steps:

• Honey bars:
• Heat honey and water in a large heavy saucepan until runny. Remove from heat, and stir in butter until melted. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in brown sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.
• Add the flour mixture to the honey mixture and stir just until combined. Add almonds, citron, and candied orange peel. Stir until the dough is smooth. Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 24 hours or up to 1 month.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 13x9x2-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper so it extends over the 2 long sides.
• Firmly press the dough into the prepared pan to form a smooth, even layer. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean, about 30 minutes.
• Citrus glaze and decoration:
• In a medium bowl, beat together powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla until smooth. While the lebkuchen is still warm, spread glaze evenly over the top.
• Mark into bars by cutting into the lebkuchen about ¼ inch deep with a knife. Decorate, if desired, by placing 1 candied cherry in the center of each bar. And arrange 4 blanched almonds around each cherry.
• Let stand in the pan on a rack until completely cool and the icing is set. Using the overhanging parchment as handles, transfer to a cutting board. Cut into bars. If possible, let the cookies age for at least 2 weeks to allow the spices to ripen. Lebkuchen will keep for months in an airtight container.