This is my first attempt a creating October Gingerbread hearts or Lebkuchenherz. The Oktoberfest in Munich is rife with stands selling these heart cookies sporting words or sayings mostly in German. The hearts are decorated with colorful icing borders, flowers, etc. and hung up on a string.
Lebkuchenherzn at Munich’s Oktoberfest
Many people buy them as gifts for their loved ones or sweethearts. They are also extremely popular souvenirs. The ribbon lengths are purposely long enough so festival goers can wear the hearts around their necks. This provides free hands for holding a maß, a large beer mug containing a liter of beer.
Oktoberfest Gingerbread hearts are decorative and last a long time hanging in your home. Of course, I’ve tasted them. However, I’ve never loved the gingerbread or lebkuchen flavor of this Bavarian specialty flavor. Perhaps because I prefer American style gingerbread cookies (you can take the girl out of the USA but you can’t take the USA out of the girl).
My own rollout gingerbread recipe contains double the spices. I love spice and hot food. Consequently, I find the German version a bit bland.
In keeping with traditional Oktoberfest fare, this is a true lebkuchenherz recipe which is a bit bland for my taste but you might find it has just the right balance of spices.
The icing contains raw egg whites. If you are squeamish about ingesting raw egg whites, use a traditional royal icing recipe.
These take a bit of time to make. None of the steps are difficult, just time-consuming. Unless you have an entire day to devote to making them, I suggest you spread the process out over two days.
You will need some additional tools to create these. I’ve listed them below. I used a star tip to pipe the borders. The Oktoberfest Gingerbread hearts you find in Munich are piped with a leaf tip. I will try that next time.
Another tip is to write out the words you would like to inscribe on the Oktoberfest gingerbread hearts on a piece of paper beforehand. Look up the German words or Google saying and jot them down before you start piping. This recipe makes 16 – 4+1/2 inch hearts. These are big enough to write one word across. Cut out larger sized hearts to pipe more words or sayings.
Gingerbread Hearts
Ingredients
For the lebkuchen:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup honey
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon lebkuchen spice (see homemade recipe below)
- 1 egg
For the icing decoration:
- 4+ 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 egg whites
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- food coloring
Additional tools:
- 4+1/2 inch in diameter heart-shaped cookie cutter
- chopstick or a sharp knife
- Food coloring
- Pastry bags fitted with closed star tips
- Pastry bag fitted with a #3 tip.
- ribbon
Lebkuchen Spice Recipe:
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground anise
- 1/2 teaspoon ground star anise
- Whisk all the ingredients together in small bowl. Place the mix in a sealed jar until ready to use.
Instructions
Make the lebkuchen:
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In a saucepan heat up the butter, honey, and brown sugar together over medium heat, stirring.
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When the brown sugar has completely dissolved, remove from heat and let cool completely.
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Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and lebkuchen spices.
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Add the egg, then the honey mixture and fold into the dry ingredients.
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Wrap the dough in plastic cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
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Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
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Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Use a 4 inch in diameter heart-shaped cookie cutter to create shapes.
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Transfer the heart shapes to the prepared baking sheets.
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Take a chopstick or sharp point of a knife and create a hole in each cutout at the top of the heart right below where the two arches come together.
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Place in the oven and bake for 10-13 minutes.
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After 8 minutes check the hearts to make sure the holes have not closed up. If so redefine them with whatever tool you are using.
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Remove from the oven, check the holes again, gently re-bore them if necessary and then transfer the cookies to wire racks. Let cool completely.
Make the Icing:
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Beat the powdered sugar together with the egg white. Add the lemon juice a few drops at a time. Stop when the mixture becomes thin enough to pipe.
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Divide the icing into separate bowls, one for each color you would like to use. Tint each bowl of icing with the desired shade of food coloring. don’t forget to leave one plain white if you want to use white to write and decorate with. The color icing you use to write with, you will have to use additional drops of lemon juice or water to soften the consistency enough for the icing to work with the #3 tip.
Decorate and assemble:
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Load the pastry bags with the different shades of tinted frosting.
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Load the pastry bag with the #2 tip with the color icing you would like to create the written message in.
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Using the #2 tip, pipe whatever message you would like in the middle of the plain cookie.
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Switch to the star tips and pipe a stars border around the edges of each heart. You can use one color or alternate 2 or three colors. Add some decorating inside the border on the face of the cookie, if you like.
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When you are finished piping, let the icing harden completely.
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String the ribbon through the holes and present them to your favorite people.
Recipe Notes
WARNING! The icing recipe contains raw egg whites.
