German Gingerbread Cookies (Lebkuchen Recipe) -

Soft German gingerbread cookies made with hazelnuts, almonds, citrus peel, and lots of spices. This traditional Lebkuchen recipe is perfect for the holiday season.

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many white and dark chocolate glazed german gingerbread cookies.

The German gingerbread cookies or Elisenlebkuchen are an inherent part of traditional German Christmas baking. Just like the Vanillekipferl (actually Austrian, but hugely popular here as well), Spitzbuben, or German Butter Cookies, this is a traditional cookie we bake every single year in December. Check out our collection of the Best German Cookies.

The delicious German Lebkuchen is soft, spicy, chewy, and flavorful due to all those nuts, spices, and sweet peel. As a bonus, the cookies are covered in chocolate. And you will not need any flour to bake them.

You could also try our Gingerbread Cookies without Molasses.

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What is Lebkuchen?

There are two types of Lebkuchen in Germany: Brown gingerbread made with flour, honey, or Zuckerrübensirup (molasses). The dough is heavy and kneadable, the kind of dough you can use to make gingerbread men, hearts, houses, or honey cake.

And then there are these Oblaten or Nürnberger Lebkuchen that don’t contain any flour, just ground nuts, eggs, and sugar. The dough is soft, cannot be shaped, and is meant to be scooped onto the Oblaten.

The German gingerbread cookies or Elisenlebkuchen are some of the finest German Christmas treats. They were invented sometime during the 14^th century in German monasteries in Nürnberg. The Catholic monks used their Eucharist wafers (communion wafers) as a base for the soft gingerbread dough and added lots of warming spices to it.

As the town was such an essential medieval trade town, all the ingredients, like nuts and spices, that might have been more difficult to find elsewhere were integrated into the Oblaten Lebkuchen recipe.

Recipe ingredients

listed ingredients for making german gingerbread cookies recipe.

Nuts: An equal amount of ground almonds and ground hazelnuts.

Spices: Traditionally, you would use Lebkuchengewürz, a typical German spice mixture used in any gingerbread recipe. However, as that is probably not available outside Germany and some other German-speaking European countries, I combined the spices to make my own Lebkuchengewürz or gingerbread spice mix.
- You will need cinnamon, all-spice, ground cloves, nutmeg, ground ginger, salt, and ground black pepper.

Candied citrus peel: I used lemon peel and orange peel. They come already chopped in small packages, and they are sweeter and less citrusy in taste than you might expect. I mention that in case you are worried that you might not like a too-intense citrus peel flavor.

Oblaten or Backoblaten: You can get them in three sizes: 90 mm, 70 mm, and 50 mm. I usually use the medium ones (70 mm) and get 20 Elisenlebkuchen from this recipe. You can also use white communion wafers if you cannot find them.

Other ingredients: Three large eggs at room temperature, light brown sugar, and one tablespoon of clear runny honey.

Glaze ingredients: Semisweet chocolate or/and white chocolate. You will also need a small amount of coconut oil. In Germany, you will need Palmin, coconut fat typically used for this purpose.

Optionally, you can glaze the Lebkuchen with a simple sugar glaze. However, chocolate-glazed cookies are better. You can also top each one with three whole-blanched almonds if you like.

How to make German gingerbread cookies?

You will need a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a regular electric mixer.

Preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Lebkuchen spice mixture: Mix all the ground spices in a small bowl. Set it aside.
Candied peel: Place it in a food processor and pulse it a few times to make it finer. It should not become a puree, but the pieces should be finer (1). Alternatively, you can chop the peel by hand using a large chef’s knife.

lemon and orange peel minced in a food processor.

Dough: Beat the eggs, brown sugar, and honey in a large bowl until light, fluffy, and creamy (2). Add all the ground nuts, spices, and chopped candied citrus peel. Mix until the dough is thoroughly combined (3).

collage of two pictures of making gingerbread dough in a bowl.

Scoop the mixture evenly onto the Oblaten and smooth it. Ensure that the nut mixture is spread evenly on the wafers; it should not be thicker in the middle and thinner around the edges but entirely even all over (4).
Bake: Place them on the prepared baking sheet and bake them for about 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown (5).
Let them cool before glazing them with chocolate.

collage of two pictures of unbaked and baked german lebkuchen on a baking sheet.

Glaze: Chop the chocolate finely. Place it in a heatproof bowl and add the coconut oil.
Bain-marie: Find a pot large enough to allow the bowl to sit on top of it. Fill it about halfway with water. Place the bowl with the chocolate on top. Place it on the stovetop on medium heat and melt the chocolate at bain-marie, often stirring. Don’t let the water get too hot, or the chocolate will become grainy.
If using two kinds of chocolate (dark and white), melt them separately.
Dip the cooled Lebkuchen cookies in the chocolate, let the excess glaze drip off, and place them on a wire rack (6).
Once all the gingerbread cookies are glazed, use the chocolate rests to decorate them. Use a teaspoon and sprinkle the dark chocolate cookies with white chocolate glaze and the other way around.

glazed german elisenlebkuchen on a wire rack.

Expert Tips

Oblaten: they are always used for this lebkuchen recipe in Germany. However, should you not find them, you can still bake the cookies without them. I baked half a batch without Oblaten, and the cookies were just as delicious. They will be a bit softer and more delicate but will hold their shape.
They will also stick slightly to the baking paper, so be careful when you remove them from the tray. Let them cool and firm up on the baking tray and use a large spatula to unstick them and lift them from the tray.

Spice mixture: If you plan to make other cookies using Lebkuchengewürz in the following weeks, make a double or triple batch of the spice mixture and keep it in a jar; it will be great for at least 4-6 weeks.
You can also double the entire recipe and make a big batch of cookies for the Christmas season; they keep well for several weeks.

Easy clean-up: When glazing the cookies, place the wire rack on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper; you can use the same baking paper used for baking the cookies. This way, the excess glaze will drip off on the paper, making cleaning easier.

chocolate glazed german lebkuchen cookies.

Recipe FAQ

What are Oblaten?

Pre-cut edible paper (rice or oblaten-paper) that is used as a base for baking cookies, like Lebkuchen or Nussmakronen. They are very common in Germany; you can buy them anywhere. Otherwise, you can find them online or in a German deli.

Do I need Oblaten to make gingerbread?

They are a part of the traditional German gingerbread cookie recipe, and they help stabilize the cookies during baking. However, I baked half a batch without using them to see how it worked. It worked!

How long do they last?

They keep for at least two weeks, and the flavor and texture improve the longer they sit. Please keep them in an airtight container.

many german lebkuchen glazed with white and dark chocolate on a wire rack.

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