In many countries for New Year and Christmas, gingerbread cookies serve as a treat and decoration for a festive table.
Delicious and beautifully decorated Christmas gingerbread - a traditional souvenir of the Catholic Christmas in Europe.
In Russia, honey cakes are very popular, simple in their preparation. On the basis of their recipe, many other varieties of gingerbread with the most sophisticated ingredients have been invented.
Christmas gingerbread: the basis of the basics
There are only three ingredients in the recipe - flour, honey and eggs. In two different bowls, mix honey (400 grams) and whites from 8 eggs (chilled) thoroughly. Both products should turn white from whipping, after which they are joined and whipped together. Then sift and pour flour (400 grams) and mix until smooth. Fill the oiled forms with ready dough and bake in the oven until tender. Gingerbread is often smeared with sugar or protein glaze, which is obtained by beating egg whites and sugar.
We bring a variety
In the process of mixing the dough - add nuts or raisins. You can divide the dough into pieces and add different combinations of ingredients to each, for example, chocolate pieces and nuts, raisins and cinnamon.
Recipe 1. Christmas gingerbread with filling
Ingredients:
oil plums. 100 gr;
honey 3 tbsp. l;
water 50 ml;
soda 1/2 tsp;
flour 0.6 kg;
sugar 0, 15 kg;
Jam 200 gr.
Cooking:
1. Cook the dough in a water bath: dissolve honey, butter, water and sugar. Carefully pour the resulting mass into the flour and mix.
2. The resulting dough is left to rest for half an hour, then roll.
3. Shape or simply upside down glass to cut circles. Put jam or other stuffing in the middle of each, cover the top with the second one, blind the edges between each other. Pierce a hole in each gingerbread over the filling and put it on a baking sheet, spread paper and bake until ready. It should be noted that when baking, the gingerbread will increase in size.
Recipe 2. Christmas cakes on kefir
When the economy of the food component is obtained a large yield of the finished treats.
Ingredients:
0.2 kg of sugar;
350 ml of kefir (or yogurt);
3 eggs;
honey 1 tbsp. l;
oil rast. 3 tbsp. l;
soda 1 tsp;
flour 0.8 kg.
For glaze:
1 egg;
sugar 6 tsp
Cooking:
1. Beat 2 yolks and 1 protein with honey and sugar. Then pour the mixture into kefir, add butter and whip again. Mix sifted flour with soda and knead the dough.
2. Roll out the dough, cut into circles in a shape or glass, place on a baking sheet so as not to touch and bake in the oven at 180 degrees.
3. For the glaze, beat 1 protein and 6 tsp. sugar to strong foam. When the cakes are ready, brush them with a glaze with a brush and put them back for another 10 minutes.
Recipe 3. Christmas gingerbread from cottage cheese
Ingredients:
120 gr. cottage cheese;
oils of sl.70 grams;
1 egg;
80 gr. Sahara;
150 gr. flour;
baking powder for the dough;
salt;
orange peel.
Cooking:
1. Grind cottage cheese with softened butter, add egg yolk, salt, sugar. Grate the orange zest, pour into the mixture. Mix thoroughly, add flour and baking powder.
2. The dough will turn out soft, it will need to be rolled out and cut out the gingerbread figures, spread out on a baking sheet, spread the baking parchment and bake to a pleasant rosy color.
3. Decorate ready-made cooled gingerbread with protein glaze (from any recipe).
Recipe 4. Oat Christmas gingerbread
Ingredients:
flour 250 gr;
sugar 200 gr;
oatmeal 250 gr;
2 eggs;
oil cl. 50 g;
soda 1/2 tsp;
honey, citric acid, salt.
Cooking:
1. Sift the flakes through a sieve, leaving loose particles without oatmeal.
2. Add flour, eggs, soda, honey, sugar. Stir, add butter, citric acid, nuts and knead the dough.
3. Roll it into a sausage, cut it into equal “buns”, form a gingerbread from each and bake in the oven until cooked.
Recipe 5. Christmas gingerbread with cherry
Ingredients:
flour 0.3 kg;
1 egg;
oil 80 gr;
honey 2 tbsp. l;
sugar 0.3 kg;
soda 1/2 tsp;
cinnamon 1 tsp;
cocoa 2 tbsp. l;
cherry 15 pcs.
Cooking:
1. Cook the dough in a water bath. Put butter, 0.1 kg of sugar, egg and honey in a smaller pot, mix everything thoroughly.
2. Add soda and cocoa, hold the mixture in a boiling bath for 3 minutes, then remove and add flour and cinnamon. When the dough has cooled, knead it with your hands.
3. Roll out the dough sausage, divide 15 parts. Make a gingerbread shape each and put a pitted cherry in the middle. Form the balls, spread them on a baking sheet with a distance of at least 3-4 cm, as the gingerbread will greatly increase in volume, and bake until tender.
4. Prepare sugar syrup: dilute sugar (0.2 kg) with water and cook for 10 minutes, stirring continuously. Ready gingerbread pour syrup and cool.
Recipe 6. Christmas gingerbread
Ingredients:
flour 175 gr;
oil plums. 100 gr;
sugar 0.1 kg;
1 egg;
baking powder 1 tsp;
cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cocoa powder 1/2 tsp;
salt.
For glaze:
eggs 1 pc;
icing sugar 1/2 cup;
lemon.
Cooking:
1. Sift slurry flour, add baking powder, cocoa and ground seasoning. Grind this dry mixture with a fork with softened butter, resulting in flour lumps.
2. Mix them with the egg and sugar, knead the dough. Roll it into a ball, wrap in cling film or a bag and leave for two hours in the refrigerator.
3. Roll out the dough and cut with the help of molds for cutting or paper stencils. Sprinkle flour over the baking tray, spread out the gingerbread, smear the egg yolk on top and put the bake until ready.
4. After baking, cool the gingerbread, then start drawing with a protein glaze. Prepare it as follows: whip chilled proteins to a strong foam, then pour sugar powder in a stream. Add juice 1/2 lemon and beat again until smooth. You can color the glaze with food coloring.
Recipe 7. Christmas gingerbread with dates
Ingredients:
soft dates 150 - 200 g;
cottage cheese 150 - 200 gr;
1 apple;
oatmeal 2 tbsp. l;
semolina 2 tablespoons;
ginger (root) 2-3 cm;
powdered sugar.
Cooking:
1. Soften the dates with a fork, having previously cleaned the stones. Grate half an apple on a large grater, a piece of ginger - on small.
2. Mix the dates, apple, semolina, ginger, cottage cheese and oatmeal. If the dough is too thin, add more flakes. If thick, add grated apple.
3. Make small gingerbread cakes out of dough, put them on a baking sheet, spread parchment and put them to bake. Ready gingerbread sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Recipe 8. Polish New Year's Gingerbread
Ingredients:
1/2 kg of honey;
1/2 kg of flour;
200 grams of margarine;
4 eggs;
0.1 kg of sugar;
spices and additives (cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, coriander, candied fruits, walnuts);
2 tsp. soda, jam.
Preparation:
1. Put honey and sugar in a saucepan, melt over low heat until caramel color. In a kettle in parallel boil water.
2. When honey and sugar are completely mixed, pour 1 cup of boiling water. It is important to be careful not to scald with the hot foam that forms at that moment. When the foam settles, you need to add margarine and spices and stir with a spoon until completely dissolved. Leave the mixture to cool to the side.
3. Peel and chop the nuts. Separate the yolks from the whites and beat the whites with a mixer. As soon as the mixture has cooled, add the yolks into it and mix again, after which add flour, spices and soda (no need to quench). Stir again and add proteins, gently stirring with a spoon.
4. Pour the dough in two rectangular shapes to half, after having smeared them with margarine. Put in the oven for 50 minutes. Check for readiness with a match or toothpick.
5. Remove both halves of gingerbread from the mold, cover with a towel and cool. Then blind them, folding one on another, pre-missed jam. To wrap in foil or oiled paper and let stand at least 10 hours, and preferably a day. Ready gingerbread can be covered with chocolate icing. 6. Preparation of chocolate glaze: 200 grams of chocolate, 25 grams of butter, 90 ml of cream, 40 grams of honey. Chop and melt chocolate in a saucepan. Cream, butter and honey add to it and stir until smooth. Cover the gingerbread with the finished glaze, put it in the fridge.
Christmas gingerbread: gingerbread secrets and gingerbread tips
• There are different ways to make gingerbread soft. The first way: do not immediately add all the flour according to the recipe, but do it gradually, making sure that the dough turns elastic. The second way: instead of sugar, use honey, partially or completely. The third way: make choux dough, that is, brew the flour with hot sugar syrup. When rolling the dough into the bed, make sure that it does not turn out too thin.
• Before cooking gingerbread with oat flakes, sift the flakes through a sieve, separating the particles from the flour slurry.
• If the honey has thickened and is difficult to mix, you can warm it in a water bath. In the warm honey other components of the recipe dissolve better.
• Small and thin gingerbread cakes usually bake for 10–15 minutes at 200–220 degrees, thicker tough dough bakes for 20–30 minutes at 180–220 degrees.
• Details of gingerbread houses can be glued together with thick icing, which is usually prepared for drawing, or melted caramel. They lubricate the attachment points of parts, temporarily fix with toothpicks and allow to dry, after which the toothpicks are removed.
• If the gingerbread cookies are not coated with icing or chocolate, then when ready they can be smeared with a mixture of yolk and white, then the gingerbread cookies will be obtained with a shiny ruddy surface.
• In the process of making glazes, whites are easier to whip if they are pre-cooled. If the eggs are stale, then you can add salt at the tip of the knife to whites when whipping.
• To knead the dough, it is better to use water cooled in the refrigerator.
• If according to the recipe, raisins are added to baking, then it should be prepared: rinse thoroughly with grease and soak for 10 minutes in boiled water. If the raisins are put into the dough dry, then it will pick up moisture from the dough. If the raisins are too wet, swollen, then it will give off excess moisture and break the consistency of the dough. • For baking, prepare walnuts as follows: peel off excess scales with your hands and break them into approximately equal parts. Then spread on a baking sheet without butter in one layer and heat in the oven for 5 minutes. Such nuts will have a richer taste than raw ones, and they will better convey their flavor to baking.
• You can divide an egg into white and yolk like this: pierce the egg with a thick needle from opposite sides. The yolk will remain inside the shell when the protein is released through the puncture.
• If the dough is not very steep, it sticks at the hands and the rolling pin when rolling. In this case, you can roll out the dough with an ordinary bottle, which before that needs to be filled with cold water. In this case, the dough will not stick to it.
• When baking gingerbread for the first 15 minutes, do not open the oven, so as not to knock down the pomp of the products.
• If the gingerbread cookies are slightly burnt, you can resort to such tricks: let them cool, then remove the burnt layer on the smallest side of the grater and powder it with powder or icing over it.
• Glazed gingerbread keeps its freshness longer and is stored better.
• If during the baking process, some of the gingerbread begins to burn, it is better to cover them with oiled paper.
• If the gingerbread cookies turned out to be too hard, they can be softened as follows: put the gingerbread cookies together with the sliced apple in a clay dish, cover with a lid and leave for one night. Then transfer to a tightly closed container.
