Gingerbread cookies - general principles and methods of cooking
Ginger came to Europe from China. Even Confucius described it as an important product for Chinese medicine, and in the Quran it is indicated that ginger appeared in Eastern countries before our era. Over time, it became so popular that they were served a table on a par with salt and sugar. But this happened only much later, and initially it was considered the privilege of a wealthy class, as it was incredibly expensive, almost worth its weight in gold. With the development of shipping, it became less and less expensive, and anyone could buy spices in the right quantities.
There are many popular products with ginger ingredients — for example, ginger ale, which is obtained by sprinkling ground beer with seasoning. The history of ginger cookies is also very interesting, it was prepared by English monks to decorate the Christmas tree. This tradition has taken root, and since then such cookies are considered to be a real Christmas accessory. Made in the form of various figurines and religious symbols, it is hung on the Christmas tree, and everyone is waiting, they will not wait, when it can be removed and simply eaten. Cookies are especially popular in Germany. Nuremberg is considered a real ginger capital, here cookies and gingerbread are turned into real works of art. There are even guilds for gingerbread bakers and cookies in Germany, England and France.
Gingerbread Cookies - Food Preparation
Fresh ginger in oriental cuisine is prominent. The roots can produce small sprouts that are added to the salad. The Chinese love pickled ginger. Dried ginger is mainly used in cakes and biscuits. The dough with a ginger component is popular not only because of the peculiar taste, but also because of the beneficial properties of ginger. It warms, boosts immunity, stimulates blood circulation, fights with excess weight. The pastry dough itself is often sand-based, the main ingredients are butter or margarine, sugar, flour.
Gingerbread Cookies - Best Recipes
Cooking ginger cookies should be approached creatively. It is good if there are different molds, but you can also cut all kinds of figures yourself - Christmas trees, snowflakes, stars. Cookies turn out gentle and just melting in a mouth, and deserve that it was prepared in the biggest holidays. You can serve it with warm milk, tea, cocoa, coffee.
Recipe 1: Gingerbread with Lemon
It is ginger that gives the liver a taste that cannot be compared with anyone. This is the easiest recipe for shortbread dough, with the addition of ginger and lemon zest.
Ingredients: butter (3/4 cup sugar), sugar for sprinkling, eggs (1 pc), lemon zest (1 spoon), ground ginger (half a spoon), salt, baking powder, flour (one and a half cups ).
Method of preparation
Sift flour, mix part of it with salt, baking powder and dried ginger. Mix sugar and butter to get a fluffy mass. Add the egg here and continue to beat. Lemon rind interfere, and gradually increase the amount of flour. Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper and spread with a spoon. Sprinkle cookies with sugar and bake for about 7-8 minutes, at 180 degrees.
Recipe 2: Gingerbread with Honey
Honey dough is more resistant to storage, and cookies do not get stale for a long time. Keep it better in a sealed container. First, it is better to prepare a syrup of honey, water and spices. Decorate the finished products can be the same syrup.
Ingredients: flour (270 grams), butter (100 grams), sugar (preferably brown, 130 grams), honey (130 grams), baking powder, ground ginger, ground cinnamon (1 tsp), ground nutmeg (1/4 part), large sugar for sprinkling, salt on the tip of a knife.
Method of preparation
Soften butter and whip with sugar. Add honey and egg, whip until the mass becomes homogeneous. Sift the flour directly into the dough, along with ginger and cinnamon, add nutmeg and salt. Mix flour mixture with butter, and knead the dough so that it can be easily rolled. We lay out a baking sheet with parchment paper and form baking balls, similar in size to large walnuts. Leave in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes and bake in the oven at 180 degrees. Baking time 15 minutes.
Recipe 3: English Gingerbread Cookie
This Christmas treat was first cooked in the 12-13 century, while spices were still highly valued and were not available on a typical day. Christmas has always been the biggest holiday, and the monk baker used the most expensive products, gave him a religious form - crosses, angels, stars. Let's try this again, putting spices in the dough. This winter fairy tale can be hung on a Christmas tree, which will surely take pleasure for adults and children - everyone tries to remember his asterisk or Christmas tree. In other holidays, you can cut out figures of animals.
Ingredients: butter (100 grams, cream), large egg, flour (2 cups), dried ground ginger (2 teaspoons), cinnamon (1 tsp), vanilla or a pack of vanilla sugar, baking powder , cardamom, cookie cutters.
Method of preparation
Preheat the oven beforehand. Softened to room temperature, the butter is kneaded with a fork and ground into a soft mass. Sugar is poured into the mass and ground until completely dissolved and obtain a white and air mixture. Sift flour and pour the mixture into it. Stir, the dough should turn out soft and lasting. Roll out the dough on a floured table, cut out curly molds, place on a baking sheet at some distance from each other. We bake cookies in the oven for about 15 minutes at about 180 degrees. The top should be just golden, and below the cookie will be darker.
Recipe 4: Gingerbread rice flour with hazelnuts
This delicacy is worthy of the most expensive table. With rice flour it becomes especially crunchy and crumbly.
Ingredients: powdered sugar (100 grams), ground hazelnuts (50 grams), rice flour (100 grams), baking powder (half a pack), ground or finely chopped ginger, 1 egg, powdered sugar for sprinkling.
Method of preparation Heat the oven 180 degrees. Beat the egg with powdered sugar, stir with baking powder, hazelnuts, flour and ginger. Grease a baking sheet and form small balls. Roll them in icing sugar, and put the sugar side on a baking sheet. Then bake for 10-15 minutes, remove with a spatula from the pan and leave to cool. Decorate with sprinkles or icing.
Gingerbread Cookies - useful tips from experienced chefs
- Celebratory cookies must be decorated. It can be anything - small candy nuts, pastry decorations, melted chocolate, pieces of candy or chocolate. You can make multi-colored glaze, just sprinkle with powdered sugar or sugar, or sand crumbs with cocoa.
- Chocolate icing - melt chocolate in a water bath, mix with cream and butter, cool and apply on cookies with a special brush.
- Another way to the original design: cookies - puzzle. Prepare the dough and roll a rectangular cake. Cut a star in the center, cut from each ray to the edges in a straight line. Geometric shapes are obtained. Such cookies can be presented in a box, it looks very original when assembled.
