Chocolate covered lebkuchen

• 250g plain flour
• 85g ground almonds
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 300g set or 200ml runny honey
• 85g (6 tbsp.) butter
• For the filling:
• thick jam or marmalade
• For the coating:
• 400g good quality cooking dark, milk or white chocolate (or make a mix but that's twice as much work of course)

METHOD

1. Mix all the dry ingredients: flour, almonds, baking powder, baking soda and the spices in a large bowl. Heat up the butter with the honey until it melts, let it cool a little and pour over the dry ingredients. Mix well into a sticky dough. Chill for at least an hour in the fridge.

2. Turn out the dough onto a generously floured surface, dust with more flour and roll out to about 5mm thickness. Dot the jam or marmalade on the bottom half of the pastry, at least 6-7cm apart. Gently fold the top half over the bottom half and cut around the jam mounds with a pastry cutter. Make sure the edges are well sealed and place the cookies on a baking tray lined with parchment.

3. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Bake the Lebkuchen for 15 minutes and leave to cool still on the parchment sheets on a wire rack.

4. Tempering chocolate is not essential but it ensures better gloss, crispiness and easier coating. The simple method is to melt two thirds of the amount over a bain-marie (in a bowl set over a pan with simmering water); add the remaining third and stir continuously until it cools down to barely lukewarm (31C for dark, 27C for white); about 10 minutes. The chocolate will stay liquid long enough to dip all the Lebkuchen.

5. Coat the cookies with the tempered chocolate one at a time. The easiest way is to drop a cookie into the chocolate upside down, turn gently over with a small fork, then lift it with the fork and tap off the excess of chocolate against the rim of the bowl. You can also try scraping it off the bottom very gently with a knife. Set the cookie onto a tray lined with parchment.

6. When all are covered, leave them on the tray until the chocolate is completely set, best overnight. When set and dry, you can store the Lebkuchen in a biscuit tin for several weeks.

---

See also

lebkuchen

stollen bites

mince pies