Basler Lebkuchen
German Christmas cookie
Contributed by Judy (Vitencz) Kulich
Prep time: 1 hour + overnight cooling
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total: 1 hour 10 minutes
Behind the Dish
I cherish the memories I have baking Christmas cookies with my mother. Although she has long since passed, she is still with me every time I bake. I feel fortunate to have shared this cookie baking tradition with my daughters, and I am hopeful they in turn will share it with their children one day…
One of my favorite cookie recipes is a German recipe called Basler Lebkuchen. This recipe is not like your typical Lebkuchen. It’s more dense, chewy, and flat. My mother’s original recipe made so many cookies, I had to cut it in half! And yet, I still yield about 100 cookies when I bake them. Unfortunately, I do not know if this recipe was handed down from my Oma to my mother, but it has become a family favorite and is often requested by our friends.
– Judy (Vitencz) Kulich
Ingredients
(Wet)
1 stick butter, softened
¾ lb. (1 ½ cups) brown sugar
¾ lb. (1 cup) honey
1 ½ eggs (use 1 egg plus 1 yolk)
2 Tb. orange peel
2 Tb citron
6 oz. finely chopped walnuts
¼ cup currants or raisins
2 Tb. of Kirsch or some kind of German Schnapps
(Dry)
3 ½ cups of flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp nutmeg
12 tsp cloves
1 Tb. cinnamon
1 Tb. Allspice
(Optional: Back Oblaten (wafer papers) by Küchle (50mm)
Directions
Combine the butter, sugar and honey. Add the eggs, lemon zest and lemon juice.
Finely chop the orange peel, citron, walnuts and currants. Add to butter mixture.
Sift all of the (Dry) ingredients together in a separate bowl. Then add to the (Wet) ingredients. Blend well.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Using a floured board and rolling pin, roll out the dough to ¼-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out your cookies. (I use a round cookie cutter to match the size of the Back Oblaten (wafer papers.)
If using the Back Oblaten, place them onto the cookie sheet and place one cookie on top of each. If not using the Back Oblaten, use parchment paper on your cookie sheet.
Bake approximately 10 minutes in a pre-heated 325-degree Fahernheit oven. If your cookies are thicker or larger, they may need more time.
Let them cool one minute on the cookie sheet before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Hard Glaze:
Whisk one egg white and add powdered sugar and a little lemon juice. Just keep adding powdered sugar until you get a consistency you think is thick enough to spread onto each cookie without it dripping all over the sides.
If you don’t like lemon, you can use nothing, or vanilla or almond extract.
You can use food coloring and/or sprinkles to decorate.
If you do not want to use egg whites, you can use lemon juice or water.
Make sure the iced cookies set before storing them in airtight containers. Use waxed paper in between the layers so the cookies do not stick together.