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    Lebkuchen Recipe

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    Lebkuchen Recipe

    These German biscuits are a little like gingerbread, but spicier. Decorate to your heart's content and enjoy with a cup of tea, or package in a pretty bag and treat friends to an edible Christmas gift.

    • Children's
    • Christmas
    • Preparation time: 45 minutes, plus cooling & chilling
    • Cooking time: 20 minutes
    • Total time: 65 minutes, plus cooling & chilling

    Makes: About 30 biscuits

    Ingredients

    90g unsalted butter
    50g clear honey
    125g black treacle
    30g dark brown muscovado sugar
    350g self-raising flour, plus a little extra
    ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
    1½ tsp ground cinnamon
    1 tbsp ground ginger
    Good grating fresh nutmeg
    ½ tsp ground allspice
    Pinch ground cloves
    1 egg, beaten
    200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
    200g icing sugar

    Method

    1. In a pan, melt the butter, honey, treacle and muscovado sugar together. Cool.

    2. Sift the our, bicarbonate of soda, spices and a pinch of salt into a bowl; make a well in the centre. Mix the egg into the butter mixture, then pour into the well in the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until it forms a dough.

    3. Knead briefly on a floured surface until smooth, then shape into a disc, wrap in cling film and chill for 20-30 minutes.

    4. Preheat the oven to 180 ̊C, gas mark 4. On a very lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to just over 0.5cm thick and stamp out different-sized stars with pastry cutters. Put on parchment-lined baking sheets; re-roll the trimmings to create more. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool for a minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

    5. Melt the chocolate and dip the biscuit bases in it, shaking gently to remove any excess. Set, chocolate-side down on parchment-lined trays; chill until set. If the edges are ragged, shave off any excess with a sharp knife. Mix the icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp cold water to make a thick, pourable icing. Transfer to a piping bag with a small nozzle and decorate as desired. The biscuits will keep in an airtight tin for up to 5 days. 

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