I found a picture of those little Santas (Nikolaus) in a magazine couple years ago and knew one day I’m gonna bake them. Said and done. They look every year a bit different, sometimes with a beard or a belt – but always very cute I think ;) And they are reminding me veeeeeerry much of Maggie Simpson in her winter-onsie ;)
Basically they are pretty easy to make – the dough is done very quick, also the baking time is short – only the decoration takes some time. I would suggest you get some help on that or you will end up making these little creatures all evening (you get at least 22 out of that recipe) ;)
INGREDIENTS / ZUTATEN
For the dough:
4.4 oz. (125g) liquid honey
1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
1/3 cup (75g) butter
1 egg white
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 pinch of ground cloves
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup (50g) blanched ground almonds
For the decoration:
1 cup (125g) confectioner’s sugar
1–2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3.5 oz. (100g) marzipan
1 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar
red food color
sugar pearls (black/silver)
Für den Teig:
125g flüssiger Honig
50g brauner Zucker
75g Butter
1 Eiweiß
1/2 TL gemahlener Zimt
1 Msp. gemahlene Gewürznelken
250g Mehl (Type 405)
2 TL Backpulver
50g blanchierte Mandelkerne, gemahlen
Für die Dekoration:
125g Puderzucker
1–2 EL Zitronensaft
100g Marzipan-Rohmasse
1 EL Puderzucker
rote Lebensmittelfarbe
Zuckerperlen (schwarz/silber)
DIRECTIONS / ZUBEREITUNG
2. In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder and ground almonds. Add the honey mix and knead until you get a nice smooth dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 435˚F (225°C). Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. On a floured surface roll out the dough to a thickness of 0.2 inches (5mm) and cut out five pointed stars (Ø 3.5 inch/9cm) and place them on the baking sheets. Roll out the remaining dough again to make more stars – all in all it should be 22 stars. Bake one baking sheet at a time for 5 minutes. Let the stars cool down on a wire rack.
4. Mix confectioner’s sugar and lemon juice until you get a thick glaze. Fill in a piping bag and set aside.
5. Mix the marzipan with 1 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar and color it red. Roll out the marzipan on a surface covered with confectioner’s sugar (or between two layers of plastic wrap). Cut out 11 large circles (Ø 2.4 inch/6cm) and 22 smaller circles (Ø 0.6 inch/1,5cm).
6. Cut the circles in half. Use the big ones for the cap and the small ones for the hands. Use a bit of the sugar glaze to fixate them on the stars. Garnish the little Santa Stars with the sugar glaze and sugar pearls. Let them dry for 1 hour before you store them in a tin box with sandwich paper between each layer of stars. Store in a cool place.
2. In einer großen Schüssel das Mehl, Backpulver und Mandeln mischen. Honigmasse zugeben und alles zu einem glatten Teig verkneten – in Klarsichtfolie wickeln und 30 Minuten im Kühlschrank ruhen lassen.
3. Den Ofen auf 225°C (435°F) vorheizen. Zwei Backbleche mit Backpapier auslegen. Teig auf einer mit Mehl bestäubten Arbeitsfläche 5mm (0.2 inch) dünn ausrollen und 5-zackige Sterne (Ø 9cm/3.5 inch) ausstechen und auf die Backbleche legen. Teigreste nochmals verkneten und insgesamt 22 Sterne ausstechen. Bleche nacheinander im vorgeheizten Backofen ca. 5 Minuten backen. Sterne auf ein Kuchengitter setzen und auskühlen lassen.
4. Puderzucker mit Zitronensaft zu einem dicken Guss verrühren, in einen Spritzbeutel füllen und zur Seite legen.
5. Marzipan mit dem Esslöffel Puderzucker verkneten und rot einfärben. Marzipan auf einer mit Puderzucker bestäubten Arbeitsfläche dünn ausrollen (oder zwischen zwei Lagen Klarsichtfolie). 11 große Kreise (Ø 6cm/2.4 inch) und 22 kleine Kreise (Ø 1,5cm/0.6 inch) ausstechen.
6. Die Kreise halbieren. Die großen Halbkreise als Mütze um eine Spitze jedes Sterns legen, dabei mit etwas Zuckerguss festkleben. Kleine Halbkreise als Hände um 2 Spitzen legen. Nikolause mit Zuckerguss und Zuckerperlen verzieren. Ca. 1 Stunde trocknen lassen. In einer Blechdose mit Butterbrotpapier zischen den Lagen an einem kühlen Ort lagern.
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Here is a version of the recipe you can print easily.
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Nikolaus Honigkuchen (Little Santas)
- Prep Time: 60
- Cook Time: 5
- Total Time: 90
- Yield: 22 1x
Ingredients
For the dough
- 4.4 oz. (125g) liquid honey
- 1/4 cup (50g) brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (75g) butter
- 1 egg white
- 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch of ground cloves
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 cup (50g) blanched ground almonds
For the decoration
- 1 cup (125g) confectioner’s sugar
- 1–2 tbsp. fres lemon juice
- 3.5 oz. (100g) marzipan
- 1 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar
- red food color
- sugar pearls (black/silver)
Instructions
- In a saucepan heat up the honey, sugar and butter until the sugar is dissolved.Let cool down a bit. Then whisk in egg white, cinnamon and cloves until well combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl mix flour, baking powder and ground almonds. Add the honey mix and knead until you get a nice smooth dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 435˚F (225°C). Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. On a floured surface roll out the dough to a thickness of 0.2 inches (5mm) and cut out five pointed stars (Ø 3.5 inch/9cm) and place them on the baking sheets. Roll out the remaining dough again to make more stars – all in all it should be 22 stars. Bake one baking sheet at a time for 5 minutes. Let the stars cool down on a wire rack.
- Mix confectioner’s sugar and lemon juice until you get a thick glaze. Fill in a piping bag and set aside.
- Mix the marzipan with 1 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar and color it red. Roll out the marzipan on a surface covered with confectioner’s sugar (or between two layers of plastic wrap). Cut out 11 large circles (Ø 2.4 inch/6cm) and 22 smaller circles (Ø 0.6 inch/1,5cm).
- Cut the circles in half. Use the big ones for the cap and the small ones for the hands. Use a bit of the sugar glaze to fixate them on the stars. Garnish the little Santa Stars with the sugar glaze and sugar pearls. Let them dry for 1 hour before you store them in a tin box with sandwich paper between each layer of stars. Store in a cool place.
Notes
- Enjoy baking!
I love my job, but in between I love to bake and try new things in the kitchen. A lot of my friends and colleagues encourage me to bake - for a very simple reason: they get the leftovers - and it seems they like it most of the time ;) 
Toooo cute!!! Love them! (:
Die sind ja bezaubernd! Du hast echt immer tolle Ideen! Schönen Nikolaus – Michaela
Danke! Freut mich, wenn Dir mein Blog gefällt :))) LG Marc
hello, these look amazing :)
are these soft or crunchy?
i am after a proper soft lebkuchen recipe. have you got one?
i always eat the store bought (shaped as star, heart, etc..) and I REALLY REALLY REALLY would like to make these from scratch :)
any help appreciated.
THANK YOU,
S
Hi Sarah,
they are somewhat in between ;) Like the gingerbread you would use here in Germany for a Gingerbread house. Not really crunchy. Only if you leave them out to dry for some time ;)
I have a recipe for Nürnberger Lebkuchen (https://baketotheroots.de/nurnberger-lebkuchen/) – similar to what you are referring (Lebkuchenherzen) but some more spices I guess.
Cheers,
Marc
Hey,
Thank you for you reply. I will give it a bash. I have my lebkuchen spice mix already mixed :)
Merry christmas
Best wishes, sarah
Great recipe! I accidentally left Nikolaus baking until late afternoon on 5 December – the sun was already setting and I remembered my Oma used to say when the sky is red like that, the angels are baking cookies for Christmas. Whether it was due to the angels or your recipe I can’t say, but I was overjoyed with how these came out. It even worked even though I had to make it wheat and nut free by leaving out the almonds and replacing the flour with one third rye and one third maizina (used a little less of this combination to get right consistency). Also used a bit more of the spices and added some salt. Thank you!
Hi Christine,
happy you liked the little Santa fellas and that the changes worked out well :)
Cheers, Marc