Recipes · Cakes & pastries
Sheet Pan Lebkuchen with Chocolate Glaze
AI-written · not yet kitchen-tested
This gingerbread is baked as one slab and cut afterwards, so there is no cutter work. Straight from the oven it is still firm and dry; only after two to three days in a tin does the moisture from the honey and nuts move into the crumb. The most common mistake is baking it too long.
This recipe was written with AI assistance and has not yet been kitchen-tested. Check quantities and times as you cook, and follow safe core temperatures for meat, poultry, fish and eggs.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs large
- 200 g (1 cup) light brown sugar
- 150 g (5.3 oz) honey runny
- 100 g (1/2 cup) butter melted and slightly cooled
- 250 g (2 cup) all-purpose flour
- 250 g (8.8 oz) ground hazelnuts
- 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder heaping
- 2 tbsp gingerbread spice mix level
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 orange unwaxed, zest only, finely grated
- 50 ml (1.7 fl oz) whole milk add 1 to 2 tbsp more if the batter is very stiff
- 200 g (7.1 oz) bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped
- 1 tbsp neutral vegetable oil
Method
- Line a 12 × 16 inch (30 × 40 cm) sheet pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) conventional, or 325 °F (160 °C) with convection. Melt the butter and let it cool for about 10 minutes, wash the orange in hot water and grate the zest finely.
- Beat the eggs, brown sugar, honey and salt with a hand mixer for 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture is paler and clearly more voluminous. Beat in the lukewarm butter in a thin stream.
- Mix the flour, hazelnuts, cocoa, gingerbread spice and baking powder and add them to the egg mixture together with the orange zest and milk. Stir only until no dry flour is left. The batter is thick and falls heavily off the spoon; if you cannot spread it, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk.
- Spread the batter about 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick into the corners of the pan with an offset spatula dipped in water. Bake on the middle rack for 20 to 22 minutes, until the top springs back when pressed and a wooden skewer comes out without wet batter. Do not bake longer, or the gingerbread dries out.
- Set the pan on a wire rack and let it cool for 20 minutes. The gingerbread should be lukewarm, not hot, when the glaze goes on.
- Melt the chocolate with the oil in a bowl set over a pot of gently steaming water; the bowl must not touch the water. Stir, and do not let a single drop of water splash into the chocolate. The pot, the steam and the rim of the bowl are hot, so hold the bowl with a towel.
- Spread the chocolate evenly over the gingerbread and let it set for 10 to 15 minutes, until it turns matte but is not yet hard. Then cut it with a sharp knife into 30 rectangles of about 2 × 3 inches (5 × 8 cm), wiping the knife between cuts.
- Layer the bars in a tin with parchment paper between the layers and let them mellow for at least 2 days. Only then is the gingerbread soft and moist.
Tip: Gingerbread spice mixes differ in strength. If you prefer it milder, use 1½ tablespoons and taste after two days, because the spices only develop while the bars mellow.
Tip: In a tightly closed tin, stored cool, the bars keep for about two weeks. Chocolate and cocoa can contain soy lecithin, so check the ingredient list if you have an allergy.