day 5 … Chocolate Lebkuchen

When I was a kid, my Grandmother would send us a “Christmas Around the World” book every year, featuring a different country and their holiday traditions. I loved these books. I still love these books. After reading about St. Lucia Day in Sweden, I really wanted to wear a wreath with lit candles. My mom put the kibosh on that real quick. Candles flames and live Christmas trees don’t gel well in Arizona. (Or anywhere really.) After reading about St. Nicolas’ Day in the Netherlands book, I quickly adopted the tradition of putting out my shoes the evening before December 6^th to wake up to find St. Nick had left me little treats in my tennis shoes (much to my tremendous disappointment I did not own a pair of wooden shoes so I had to make some adjustments). But the German book was the one I turned to most because of the pictures of cookies and holiday pastries and gingerbread houses. They had funny names I couldn’t pronounce and looked so Christmas-y with spices, piles of icing, clouds of powdered sugar and jewel-like candied fruits – pfeffernusse, stolen, zimtsterne, springerle, lebkuchen. I was absolutely fascinated. 

When I was putting together this year’s crop of recipes, I thought a chocolate spice cookie could be quite nice and remembered those old German recipes. So for today, Day 5 of the 12 Days of Chocolate Cookies, I’ve got a version of lebkuchen. A lovely spiced cookie full of candied ginger, orange zest, almonds, all those wonderful gingerbready spices – cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg – and glazed with a light but flavorful mix of apple juice and brandy. Delightful! 

36 One Dough/Many Cookies from years past:

Fruity: Jam Thumbprints, Jam Streusel Tarts, Raspberry Linzer Squares, Lemon Poppyseed Buttons, Orange Sesame Crisps, Cranberry Pistachio Coins, Almond Raspberry Strips, Orange Sandwich Cookies, Apricot Rosemary Shortbread, Coconut Lime Sticks, Bourbon Glazed Fruitcake Buttons, Lemon Cornmeal Biscotti, Blueberry Lime Buttons, Date Swirls

Nutty: Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Pecan Tassies, Maple Black Walnut Cookies, PB&J Sandwich Cookies, Pecan Triangles, 

Spiced: Cinnamon Sugar Pinwheels, Candied Ginger Spice Buttons, Cardamom Rose Coins, Brown Sugar Wafers with Lemon Lavender Glaze

Chocolate: Mexican Chocolate Crinkles, Chocolate Cocoa Nib Wafers, Raspberry Chocolate Drops, Chocolate Hazelnut Buttons, Dark Mocha Sandwich Cookies, Espresso Crinkles, 

Bars: Rum Butter Bars, Peppermint Brownie Bars, Banana Walnut Bars

Holiday Classics: Cream Cheese Wreaths, Classic Molasses Cookies, Peppermint Candy Canes

2020 12 Days of Cookies line up to date:

Basic Chocolate Butter Cookie Dough

Day 1: Cranberry Cocoa Nib Wafers

Day 2: Chocolate Banana Petit Four

Day 3: Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies

Day 4: Andes Mint Chip Cookies

DAY 5: CHOCOLATE LEBKUCHEN

Start with the base chocolate dough – recipe here. I used a natural cocoa powder for this one. If you have some of those fancy cookie stamps, try them here or press the dough into a round and make designs with a toothpick like I did. Or leave them in rounds; that works too.

1. For the cookies: preheat oven to 350ºF and line 2-3 sheet pans with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
2. In a standing mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, combine room temperature base cookie dough, all the spices, chopped almonds, orange zest, baking powder and water on medium speed until thoroughly combined.
3. For rounds: roll 1 Tablespoons of the dough into balls and place 1” apart on the prepared sheet pans. For cookie stamps: gently press the round with a cookie stamp to imprint the design or flatten the balls into thick discs, smoothing out any cracks on the sides, and press a toothpick or wooden skewer into the dough to make designs. (At this point, you can freeze the cookies up to 3 months. Bake directly from the freezer, adding a few minutes to the baking time.)
4. Bake 6-8 minutes until just firm to the touch. 
5. Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack before glazing.
6. For the glaze: whisk together the powdered sugar and liquid of choice until smooth (if your powdered sugar is particularly lumpy, consider sifting first.) The glaze should be very light and liquidy.
7. Place the wire rack on a sheet of parchment. Dip each cookie in the glaze, letting excess drip off and place back on the wire rack and allow to dry.