Recipe 2- Sophisticated Elisen Lebkuchen

On my first trial of this recipe I lacked a few unique ingredients. Hartshorn, aka baking ammonia was the first-- having never used the ingredient before I admittedly was a little skeptical of the idea of putting ammonia in my food (see notes on Hartshorn)… I also couldn’t seem to find it in the store since it came packaged differently than baking soda. Secondly, I lacked anise and cardamom so I substituted star anise and nutmeg- spices that will do in a pinch, but not as good as the real thing. I also ended up with cookies too small for the oblaten (underestimating the amount of dough needed per oblaten, and overestimating the dough’s expansion capability).

Too much white oblaten showing through. This dough should practically reach the edge.

Lastly, my cookies came out looking rumpled as opposed to the smooth round-topped commercial lebkuchen I had come to know. This I owe to my assumption that the dough would settle and smooth out in the heat of the oven (it did not).

Lebkuchen post bake- too rumpled and too much oblaten showing at the edges.

On the second go around I corrected for the mistakes of my first trial and the results came out more as I had anticipated. First off, I ensured that the dough reached the edge of the oblaten and I smoothed the tops of the dough with a wet spoon (time-consuming but fruitful task that yielded a smoother, more rounded finish). Hardly any white oblaten showing. Cookie tops have been smoothed with the back of a wet spoon.

Secondly, I left plenty of time for the dough to rest before baking, and with the proper leavener, the cookies attained a “puffier” finish.

Baked Elisen Lebkuchen.


Here is the recipe I used. It is adapted from the recipe of top German chef, Alfons Schuhbeck. The flavor is delicate and satisfying. Very enjoyable.

Elisen Lebkuchen Recipe

Prep. bake, and cleanup time: 2.5 hours
Dough rest time: 2-3 days
To maximize flavor and texture, let baked cookies rest for 10 days before eating.
Cookies sealed in an air-tight container remain good for 2-3 weeks.

Bakes 30-60 cookies depending on oblaten size

INGREDIENTS

½ tsp. hartshorn (baking ammonia)

1 tbsp. Rum

40 g orangeat (candied orange peel), finely minced (just under 1/3 cup)

30g citronat (candied citron), finely minced (~4 tablespoons)

150g ground almonds (~1 3/4 cups)

50g chopped almonds (just under 1/2 cup)

50g ground hazelnuts (just over 1/2 cup)

6.5 tbsp. flour

1 tsp. lebkuchen spice*

4 egg whites

1 cup granulated sugar

130g raw marzipan

30-60 whole almonds (optional)

30-60 Oblaten, 50 or 70mm diameter, round

(thin, tasteless wafer of flour & water,

aka communion wafer)

For glaze options, see notes at the end of this recipe

STEPS

Step 1- Dissolve hartshorn in rum (hold your nose the ammonia smell can be potent!)

Step 2- Mix 7 “dry” ingredients (orangeat, citronat, almonds, hazelnuts, flour, lebkuchen spice) together

Step 3- In a third bowl begin to beat the egg white with the mixer on high speed. Slowly add all the sugar. Beat until firm and creamy (about 10 mins).

Step 4- In a large bowl, mix marzipan (broken into pieces) with 2 tbsp of the beaten egg/sugar mixture. Mix until smooth.

From left to right, back to front: beaten egg /sugar mixture, mixed dry ingredients, mixing egg/sugar mixture into marzipan, hartshorn dissolved into rum.

Step 5- Add rum mixture to marzipan/egg mixture and mix.

Step 6- Alternating, add nut/flour mixture and egg/sugar mixture to the marzipan, mixing thoroughly as you go.

Step 7- For best flavor, leave Lebkuchen dough in a tightly covered bowl and refrigerate for 2-3 days.

Step 8- Remove Lebkuchen dough from fridge. Laying out the oblaten onto an ungreased cookie sheet, place enough dough on each oblaten so that it nearly reach the edge and leaves only a thin strip of white oblaten uncovered. Smooth tops with a wet spoon. Press whole almond into middle of cookie (if desired).

Step 9 **IMPORTANT** (I highlight this step as it is an unusual one in cookie baking)! Let the sheeted cookie dough rest on the baking sheets for 4-6 hours before baking.

Step 10- Preheat the oven to 340F (171C)

Step 11- Bake the Lebkuchen for about 30 mins (checking at 20 mins, and adjusting if necessary to ensure even cookies are cooked to a light golden brown.

Step 12- Remove cookies from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Step 13- Once cookies have cooled, glaze if desired with

powdered sugar glaze or chocolate kuvertüre glaze.

For Powdered Sugar Glaze: Combine 1 eggwhite, 3/4c powdered sugar, 1 Tbl lemon juice. With a brush or a spoon apply a thin, even layer of glaze over the tops of the cookies.

For Chocolate Glaze: Melt 200g of zartbitter (semisweet) Kuvertüre chocolate in a small pot over med-low heat. Once chocolate has fully melted, let cool slightly and dip cookie tops in chocolate, placing them on cookie racks to dry for a minimum of 12 hours. Once dry, store in an air-tight container.

* Lebkuchen Spice Mixture:

1 t ground cardamom

1 t ground cloves
½ t ground allspice
½ t ground anise seed
½ t ground coriander

½ t ground white pepper
½ t ground ginger
1 Tbl ground cinnamon

Combine the spices and store in a tightly covered container.