Lebkuchen Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between Lebkuchen and gingerbread? ›

Lebküchen, on the other hand, is darker, denser, and richer than gingerbread with its focus on honey, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, cardamom, and ginger all amplified with a pinch of mace. If you like gingerbread but want to step up the flavor game, then Lebküchen is the way to go.

There are a variety of German Lebkuchen, each distinguished by slight alterations in ingredients and most especially the amount of nuts used. But the most highly prized of all are the Nürnberger Elisenlebkuchen. The title is a regionally protected one and only Lebkuchen produced in Nürnberg can be sold as such.

Lebkuchen (pronounced leyb-koo-kuh n) is a centuries-old German spiced treat traditionally baked during the winter holiday season. While lebkuchen is often translated to English as gingerbread, it's not exactly what most Americans envision when they think of gingerbread.

Back-oblaten, or baking wafers, are round wafers often used as the base of each lebkuchen. They're traditional, but not necessary. It is critical that the nuts be ground into a flour, as that is their function in this recipe.

Our Chocolate Covered Lebkuchen are popular with a certain crowd, but some folks don't like the nuts and spices in these traditional German gingerbread cookies.

Pfeffernusse and lebkuchen are both similarly flavored with honey and lots of warm baking spices but pfeffernusse are almost always small, rounded cookies coated with a powdered sugar glaze, while lebkuchen may be shaped like regular cookies or cut in bars and are generally glazed with chocolate.

Lebkuchen Noun. Lebkuchen, der ~ (GewürzkuchenHonigkuchen) gingerbread, the ~ Noun. spiced gingerbread, the ~ Noun. honey cake, the ~ Noun.

German regulations define three classes of Oblaten Lebkuchen based on the minimum weight of nuts required in each: Leckerlee makes only the highest class of lebkuchen, Nuremberg-style Lebkuchen, also known as Elisenlebkuchen.

The oldest sweet pastry of mankind

This means that Lebkuchen has been around almost as long as the pyramids themselves! There is also evidence from ancient Greece of sweet cakes made of flour and honey, which were considered a feast and served as offerings.

Well, the great thing about authentic Nuremberg Lebkuchen is, they are made without wheat, oil or butter - their main ingredient is NUTS! Yep, a whoooole bunch of them. And by golly, nuts are packed with some serious healthy goodness!

What is a biscuit called in Germany? ›

Due to the popularity of the Leibniz-Keks, Keks has since become the generic German word for biscuit.

Because Lebkuchen are 'long storage pastries' they can be kept for several months if stored correctly (in a rather cool and heat-protected spot where they have enough moisture).

Lebkuchen: The Ultimate Christmas Cookie

Also, not surprisingly, another Christmas dish with centuries of heritage.

The addition of a few spices to regular buttery pastry does not make a Lebkuchen. Traditionally, gingerbread is baked with potassium carbonate as a raising agent. Regular baking powder or baking soda is not really suitable for gingerbread dough that needs to rest for several days.

The root meaning of the name Lebkuchen has been lost, although there are many plausible explanations. While kuchen is 'cake' in German, the particle 'leb' may refer to Old German expressions for crystallized honey, sweetness, or even loaf. These spiced honey cakes first appeared in monasteries in the late Middle Ages.

Lebkuchen - pronounced LAYB-kue-chn - and sometimes called Pfefferkuchen is a German baked Christmas treat somewhat resembling gingerbread. Soft, moist and nutty German gingerbread was invented by medieval monks in Franconia, Germany in the 13th century.

"Lebkuchen" (gingerbread) is also known as "Honigkuchen" (honeycake) in some parts of Germany.