I’ve had several goes at these since I first posted the recipe, and I think I’ve finally sorted the kinks out. So much so that the last lot I made prompted quite a few people to say they were so good they wanted to make them themselves. So I’ve decided to redo the recipe, incorporating all the changes I have now made to the original  translation.

These are utterly delicious German spiced biscuits, with shades of gingerbread, but so much better you’ll never go back.

Nürnberger Lebkuchen

175g honey
50g sugar
2 tbs oil and 2 tbs of water
Put all these in a saucepan, mix and warm gently until everything has melted. Shift it to a mixing bowl and let it cool.

I egg yolk
1 heaped tsp cocoa
6 drops of lemon oil/essence
1 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg or ground mace
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp powdered ginger
250g flour and 1/2 heaped tsp each of baking powder and baking soda, sifted
Stir all these ingredients into the sugar mix.

Then add in:
75g almond meal
75g ground hazlenuts
40g flaked almond bits (quickly through a grinder is OK, but you still want small pieces, not meal)
50g finely chopped candied orange (or half of a small candied orange)
Zest of 1 lemon
40g  dates and 40g chopped incaberries (also known as chinese or cape gooseberries). I blitzed these for a few seconds in a food mill to get very small pieces.

Knead lightly on a heavily floured bench and roughly flatten into a square. Take a lump, roll it into a ball and them place on tray, flattening a little.

Place on baking sheets and bake in a 180C oven for 20 minutes.

For the topping: thoroughly mix the leftover egg white with 125g icing sugar (I had none so I used caster sugar).  Smear it over the top as soon as they come hot out of the oven.

corinna hente