Today you can buy anything in the store, and if you wish, of course, you can also purchase Christmas gingerbread. But will their taste and flavor meet the expectations, or will it just be a beautiful pastry, hastily baked on a production scale for the Christmas holidays?
Anyway, home baking is not only naturally and incredibly tasty, it is also some kind of family traditions, warm friendly relations in the family.
Christmas Gingerbread - General Cooking Principles
• The dough for Christmas gingerbread can be different: prepared in the raw way, where, due to the huge content of sugar, honey or molasses, it is both loose and viscous; cooked in a custard way, where the flour is first brewed, then the mixture is cooled and only then the other ingredients are added; and in other ways.
• The form for Christmas gingerbread plays a special role - it should be really festive, in the form of various little animals, snowmen, Christmas trees, gifts. For shaping, you can use either special molds or a sharp knife, which should be rolled in flour before cutting.
• You can also add various fillings and fillings to Christmas cakes. Christmas gingerbreads are honey, ginger, chocolate, mint; nuts, candied fruits, citrus zest, chocolate chips are added to the dough. Much depends on your creativity and fantasy. Do not be afraid to experiment and create something new.
• Frosting. Perhaps for Christmas gingerbread its presence is the main detail. After all, thanks to the glaze, you can easily give your baked gingerbread figures a festive look. To prepare the icing for such a delicious pastry as Christmas gingerbread can be any: sugar, chocolate, protein, lemon.
How to make Christmas icing for gingerbread
Painting gingerbread with this glaze will bring real pleasure from the process of creating a culinary masterpiece. By joining children to such an exciting experience, you will provide an evening of Christmas fun and happiness in your cozy kitchen. In order to paint 30 Christmas cakes, you will need one egg white, a glass of powdered sugar and food coloring, ready-made or cooked with your own hands.
Powdered sugar can be used, both ready-made and hand-made. Before applying the powder must always sift to avoid the formation of lumps. Now you need to mix egg white and icing sugar, first with a spoon, and then with a whisk or mixer. You need to beat for a long time, at least five minutes, the consistency of the finished glaze should be dense and homogeneous.
It remains to separate the icing for tinting and put a picture on the Christmas gingerbread using a pastry bag, a regular plastic bag or a toothpick, as much as it is convenient here.
If you do not have or you just do not like food colors, you can color the glaze using natural raw materials. For example, to make it brown, add a few drops of strong tea or coffee. To make the glaze yellow, use saffron tincture or a grated and crushed orange peel. A variety of tones of red can be made using different jams, jams. Shades of green are obtained if boiled chopped spinach.
Gingerbread Christmas Gingerbread
Ingredients:
• two glasses of high-grade flour;
• two spoonfuls of baking powder;
• 110 grams of butter;
• 150 grams of sugar;
• one egg;
• two teaspoons of ground ginger;
• 20 ml of molasses (light).
Cooking Method:
1. Sift the flour into a deep bowl, add ground ginger and baking powder.
2. Add the slightly-frozen, chopped butter.
3. Pour in molasses, put in an egg, pour in granulated sugar.
4. Knead the dough with your hands, or using a food processor.
5. You should have a shortbread dough. Take him for an hour in the freezer.
6. Now the most interesting thing is to roll out the dough no more than one centimeter thick, sprinkle with sugar on top, cut out the figures. 7. Bake Christmas gingerbread in the oven preheated to 200 degrees, putting them on a greased baking sheet.
8. Baking time fifteen minutes.
9. Cool the finished gingerbread, decorate it with icing.
Christmas Gingerbreads “Honey with Dried Fruits”
Ingredients:
• 330 grams of high-grade flour;
• 280 grams of fresh liquid honey;
• 180 grams of powdered sugar;
• half a pack of butter;
• four eggs;
• half a spoon of soda;
• cinnamon - to taste;
• 200 grams of a mixture of dried apricots, peanuts, raisins and candied fruits;
• Art. spoon liquor.
Cooking Method:
1. Wash dried fruits and dried, then cut as small as possible.
2. Add honey and caster sugar to them.
3. Melt the butter in the microwave or in a water bath, pour it into the sweet mixture.
4. Beat eggs there, add cinnamon, liqueur. Mix everything thoroughly.
5. Slowly pour into the mass of flour sifted and connected with soda. Knead the dough so that no lumps form.
6. Roll out the dough, cut out beautiful various figures, bake Christmas gingerbread at 200 degrees on a greased baking sheet for 10 minutes.
7. Decorate the finished products with icing.
Christmas Gingerbreads “German”
Ingredients:
• 400 grams of honey;
• two glasses of granulated sugar;
• 2.5 kg of flour;
• 2 tbsp. spoons of soda;
• 300 ml of light molasses;
• 30 grams of butter;
• 400 grams of sour cream 30% fat;
• nuts, cinnamon, candied fruit - to taste;
• Cloves - on request.
Cooking Method:
1. Mix in a large saucepan all the sweet ingredients: granulated sugar, molasses, honey.
2. Place the pot in a water bath, keep it there until all the ingredients are connected, becoming a uniform consistency. Cool ready sweet mass.
3. Add to it slightly salted sour cream, soda, dried fruits, spices and nuts. Stir.
4. Pour the flour, knead the dough, put it in the refrigerator for 12 hours.
5. Roll out the settled mass, cut out, bake for about ten minutes, decorate with drawings from the glaze.
Christmas Mint Gingerbread
Ingredients:
• two glasses of flour;
• spoon baking powder;
• cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt - on a pinch;
• a glass of cane sugar;
• one egg;
• a quarter cup of vegetable oil;
• five drops of peppermint essence;
• 2 tbsp. spoons of honey.
Cooking Method:
1. Pour vegetable oil, honey, peppermint essence into a deep bowl, beat in an egg, add sugar. Beat until smooth.
2. In a different container, mix all the spices, flour, and baking powder.
3. Pour gently dry the mixture into the liquid mass, knead the dough. It should make you elastic, sticky, if it sticks, add a little flour.
4. Cool the dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator or any other cold place, then roll out the layer, sprinkle with flour, cut out the Christmas figures.
5. Bake 10-15 minutes. Paint with glaze.
Christmas Gingerbread “Fragrant”
Ingredients:
• 220 grams of sugar;
• 250 grams of flour;
• 20 grams of ghee;
• two eggs;
• 10 grams of ground cardamom;
• under art. spoon of honey and vanilla sugar.
Cooking Method:
1. Grind sugar with eggs in a small container, add cardamom and vanilla sugar to the mass. Stir.
2. Pour into the flour mass that you have obtained, knead the thick dough.
3. Grease the baking sheet with melted butter, warm the oven.
4. Roll dough, form gingerbread.
5. Bake for 15 minutes.
6. Finish Christmas gingerbread cookies with honey and decorate with icing.
Christmas gingerbread cookies on kefir
Ingredients:
• 30 grams of sour cream 30% fat;
• 500 ml of kefir with high fat content;
• two eggs;
• 400 grams of granulated sugar;
• teaspoon of soda;
• 600 grams of flour;
• three Art. spoons of honey;
• 250 ml of water;
• vegetable oil.
Cooking Method:
1. Pour kefir into deep container, add soda and sour cream. Beat the ingredients until bubbles appear.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs with honey and sugar.
3. Stir both mixtures as thoroughly as possible, then begin to add flour. 4. The dough, which you get, should be elastic, soft, the mass should not stick to your hands.
5. Soak the dough for about half an hour at room temperature.
6. Further actions are the same as in previous recipes. Roll out the dough, cut out the Christmas figures, bake them, draw festive glazed patterns.
Big Christmas gingerbread with lemon zest
Ingredients:
• one and a half glasses of flour;
• one third cup of sugar;
• one lemon;
• glass of water;
• glasses of powdered sugar;
• vegetable oil;
• spoon of apple cider vinegar;
You can optionally add cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg.
Cooking Method:
1. Remove the rind from the washed lemon, pass it through a meat grinder or chop with a grater.
2. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, soda, and your favorite spices.
3. Add lemon zest, two spoons of vegetable oil, a bite, and water. Beat an appetizing mass.
4. Grease a baking pan with butter, pour lemon dough into it.
5. Bake for about half an hour. You can check the readiness of the gingerbread by sticking a knife into the center of the baking, if it does not stick and stay dry, a large Christmas gingerbread is ready.
6. Cool the product, paint it with festive multi-colored glaze.
7. If you wish, you can cut your gingerbread lengthwise into two parts and lay out the filling. You make a great Christmas gingerbread cake.
Christmas Chocolate Gingerbread
Ingredients:
• a pound of flour;
• 300 grams of sugar;
• 50 grams of cocoa;
• 100 grams of butter;
• four eggs;
• A spoon of soda.
Cooking Method:
1. Spread the butter with sugar and cocoa, add the yolks and mix well.
2. Separately whisk the whites to a firm, fluffy foam.
3. Sift flour and mix with soda.
4. To a mixture of yolks, sugar and cocoa pour flour with soda, enter the whipped whites. Knead the dough.
5. Roll the bed in 1-1.5 cm, cut out the figures.
6. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
7. Finished products icing.
Christmas oat gingerbread
Ingredients:
• 250 grams of flour;
• a glass of sugar;
• 230 grams of oatmeal;
• half a spoon of soda;
• two eggs;
• 50 grams of butter;
• 100 grams of chopped nuts;
• Two spoons of liquid honey.
Cooking Method:
1. Beat eggs with sugar, add oatmeal, mix. Set the mass aside for ten minutes to soften the flakes.
2. Add soda and sifted flour, softened butter and chopped nuts. Knead the dough.
3. Form Christmas gingerbread. Bake them.
4. After the product has cooled down, apply patterns with glaze.
Christmas gingerbread - tips and tricks
• When putting Christmas gingerbread on a baking sheet, try not to put them close together. Than to stick off sticky figures, it is better to make two or three batches, especially gingerbread cookies are baked very quickly.
• Since the dough for Christmas cakes is very sweet, baking can easily stick to the baking tray. Baking paper or silicone mat will help to cope with this problem.
• In order not to overdry Christmas cakes, it is not recommended to bake them for more than 15 minutes. The oven must be preheated to 200 degrees.
• Christmas gingerbread, packaged in beautiful bags, will be an excellent gift to relatives and friends for Christmas.
• Finished gingerbread can be stored for up to 5 days.
