This is a recipe from my book, Gluten-free Baking at Christmas. It’s is a collection of 20 of my favourite gluten-free wintery treats, and is available as a hard copy or as an eBook.
Lebkuchen are, to me, the epitome of Christmas. I remember demolishing these year after year, until of course, I had to start eating gluten-free. Funnily enough, I never used to make these – I always bought them from the supermarket (Waitrose used to be the only place that stocked the lebkuchen I liked!).
So for this recipe, I did what I sometimes do – look at a load of lebkuchen recipes on the internet, and take the best bits from each of them. Sometimes this ends in disaster (hence why my Paleo pumpkin bread didn’t make it to the blog this Autumn), but in the case of this recipe it worked very well. The honey, brown sugar and black treacle give these cookies a great chewy consistency, which is rare for a gluten-free recipe!
When I first made these, the flour I used was Dove’s farm white bread flour. This already contains a binding agent, which is why it’s not included in the recipe. Most gluten-free bread flours will have something to bind them together. What’s most important is that you make sure to use a flour blend and not a “bread mix” that also contains fat or sugar (or nobbly bits you don’t want in the cookies!). If you only have a plain white flour, add a teaspoon of xantham gum or whatever gluten replacer you prefer.
Gluten-free lebkuchen
By Published: November 24, 2014
A gluten-free twist on a classic German Christmas cookie.
Ingredients
- 80 g butter
- 100 g honey
- 100 g black treacle (molasses)
- 100 g dark brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 lemon
- 2-3 tbsp mixed peel
- 300 g gluten-free bread flour Dove's Farm works well
- 1 tsp baking powder check your brand is gluten-free
- 80 g ground almonds
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 50 g icing sugar
- squeeze lemon juice
- 2-3 tsp water
Instructions
- Sift the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and spices together in a large mixing bowl.
- Melt butter in a saucepan together with the honey, treacle and brown sugar. Leave on a low-medium heat until completely dissolved and then remove from the heat.
- Leave to cool for a few minutes then add a beaten egg and lemon juice, stirring until combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry mixture and mix in. Add the mixed peel if desired.
- Spoon into a large freezer bag and refrigerate. The mixture will be soft and un-dough-like, but once it sets, it will make a proper dough that can be rolled out. Leave for several hours, or overnight for a deeper flavour.
- Preheat oven to 175C/350F. Lightly dust the surface with gluten-free flour and roll the dough out until about 1cm thick. Cut out your favourite shapes with cutters, re-rolling the dough until all is used up.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the tops of the biscuits start to crack slightly. Cool on a wire rack
- When completely cooled, make up the glaze. Sift the icing sugar and add a little water (with a squeeze of lemon juice) until it resembles a thin paste. Using a clean pastry brush, glaze the lebkuchen and leave to dry. If you want the icing to look more opaque, brush another layer of glaze on once the first has dried.
- Skill Level: Easy
If you enjoyed this recipe, you’ll love my book, Gluten-free Baking at Christmas!
Mooie foto’s en goed geschreven recept voor een feestelijke glutenvrije decembermaand!
Compliment van medeblogster Inostrate die ook graag glutenvrij bakt en blogt op http://www.dasanderekoek.wordpress.com
We made some gluten free Lebkuchen using the recipe in Gluten-free Baking at Christmas and they were delicious.
Lebkuchen biscuits are something I’ve really missed since being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease, so I’m glad we’ve now got a great recipe to use for years to come.
Merry Christmas and Happy Baking.
Richard
Wonderfully fragrant and spicey dough is in the fridge!
What is the best method (if even recomended at all) of storing and or freezing your recipe of baked and frosted Lebkuchen?
Traditional wheat flour Lebkuchen improves with age, not sure about gluten free.
I was wondering if you have any suggestions for replacing the almonds? I live in a nut free GF house (talk about awkward!). I’d love to make these and be able to share them with the whole family. It’s been a decade since I had any!
Hello! Can you please tell me what “Mixed Spice” is? Thank you!
These were wonderful! I have been ordering Schär gluten-free lebküchen every year because it just doesn’t feel like Christmas without them, but now I can make my own each year. I used the icing you recommended for half the cookies and dipped the other half in melted dark chocolate. Both were delicious. Thank you so much!!!