Variations on Lebkuchen (or possibly Christmas cookies)?

December 17, 2018 4:24 AM

The last couple of years I have brought home-baked Lebkuchen (made from a recipe given to me by a friend's mum) to work for Christmas. This year I'm working in multiple places over the Christmas period, and while "make lots more Lebkuchen" is definitely an option, I think that a bit of variety would be nice. So: what are your best Christmassy biscuit (cookie) recipies? Bonus for gluten-free and/or vegan that omnivores won't notice are gf/vegan as I'm not going to have a chance to scope out dietary preferences before Christmas.

I'm in the UK if that makes a difference for ingredient availability, but I own a set of US standard measuring cups so have no problem with recipies in that format.

posted by Vortisaur to Food & Drink (5 answers total)

This is a great list of recipes - I can personally vouch for the chai spice snickerdoodles (10/10 everyone is obsessed with them) and the funfetti slice-and-bakes which I made with crushed peppermint candy and red and green sprinkles for max christmas cheer.
posted by cilantro at 4:45 AM on December 17, 2018 [2 favorites]

Florentines! The recipe I use has a tiny amount of flour but I bet you could skip it or replace with cornflour to make them GF
posted by missmagenta at 5:07 AM on December 17, 2018

I make these ginger-spice molasses cookies every year and everyone loves them. They're so great with coffee!
posted by Medieval Maven at 5:28 AM on December 17, 2018

These mesquite chocolate chip cookies worked quite well for me using a store-bought gluten-free all-purpose flour blend. I'm sure you could make them vegan using vegan chocolate and a vegan baking substitute for butter; this vegan version looks promising. The gluten-free cookies run a bit crispier than the regular versions, so keep an eye out so they don't burn. The mesquite works as more spice than flour and gives the cookies a great molasses coconut flavor.
posted by nicebookrack at 6:46 AM on December 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

I make these little acorn-lookalike cookies every so often. They aren't gluten-free, but they work well as Christmas cookies because they have an extra decorative element (even though that decoration couldn't be simpler). I've even adapted them to someone with a nut allergy by leaving out all the nuts, and instead of using the finely chopped nuts in the decoration where you're supposed to, I used crushed-up toffee.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:13 AM on December 17, 2018