I tried making it after we moved back from Germany, but it wasn't very good, so I do not have a recipe to share. I've never seen the chocolate version. For me, that would not be lebkuchen. KAF recipes are almost always pretty good, maybe needing a few small tweaks - I think you should try that recipe. I agree that it's delicious!

If anything, lebkuchen recipes may have more variation in them than pfeffernusse, some of them have a thin wheat-based wafer underneath them, some are frosted or coated with chocolate, the fruit in them varies, too.

We stayed a week in Nuremburg and visited the Kristkindlemarkt there every night. So festive and old-fashioned. I remember ordering that special wafer-like paper online when I made the lebkuchen; it was always on the bottom of the bars we bought in Germany, but not absolutely necessary. Gluhwein is the perfect pairing with the lebkuchen on a cold snowy night.

Kimbob, I don't recall a dominant ginger flavor; it was mostly citrus. As long as you included plenty of other spices, I think you could just omit the ginger, or at least, greatly reduce the amount.

Lebkuchen and Leckerli appear to be interchangeable as names. I've actually made Leckerli from a McCall's Cooking School magazine (at the moment, I cannot find those) about 30 years ago. The recipe called for cutting them out as hearts, and oh, it was hard to work with that dough, but the results were stunning. I took them to a book group I belonged to at the time, and people were very impressed.

I have considered making Dorie's recipe (same one that is in her book), as it is one of the few non-butter recipes. I was deterred by not having the Grand Marnier--and not wanting to spend $20 for a small bottle of it. It could probably be left out.