Recipe for the perfect Christmas cookies. Christmas gingerbread - little secrets

Preparing for Christmas in different families takes place in its own way, but one ritual remains unchanged for everyone - cooking holiday treats. In each country, it is customary to serve their own on the Christmas table. Sweets occupy a special place.

For Christmas, baked goods are prepared - cookies, gingerbread, puddings, strudel and muffins. Consider the most popular species Christmas sweets.

Christmas cookies and gingerbread

By Christmas gingerbread are meant gingerbread, but they are also called Christmas cookies. Similar pastries during Christmas can be found in almost every home. It is decorated with bright painting, caramel, melted chocolate and icing. Therefore, often making sweets turns into a creative activity, to which you can involve all family members and make the holiday even more fun.

Gingerbread can be made in the form of Christmas trees, hearts, stars and rings, and is popular in Europe gingerbread Man. The figurines are not only served on the table, but also decorate the spruce or the interior of the apartment with them.

Classic Christmas gingerbread

An obligatory component of classic Christmas gingerbread is ginger. In addition to it, they include honey and spices. For cooking, you can use any of the recipes.

Recipe #1

• 600 gr. wheat flour;
• 500 gr. rye flour;
• 500 gr. natural honey;
• 250 gr. butter;
• 350 gr. granulated sugar;
• 3 eggs;
• 1 tsp soda;
• 1/3 cup milk;
• 1/3 teaspoon salt;
• 1/3 tsp ginger, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg,
• some vanilla.

Make syrup from sugar by adding half a glass of water to it. Combine the butter with honey and melt in the microwave - this can be done in a water bath. Add salt, soda and spices to the sifted flour. Pour in the syrup and honey-oil mixture. Stir and wait until the mass has cooled, then add milk with eggs and knead. Put her in plastic bag Or wrap in cling film and refrigerate overnight. roll out gingerbread dough, cut out figures from it and put in an oven heated to 180 °. Bake for 15 minutes.

Recipe #2 - Simple Gingerbread Cookies

• 600 gr. flour;
• 120 gr. butter;
• 120 gr. brown or regular sugar;
• 100 ml of honey;
• 2/3 tsp soda;
• 1 tbsp without a slide of ground ginger;
• 1 tbsp cocoa.

Beat softened butter with sugar. To get lush mass, put honey to it and whisk again. Mix dry ingredients, add oil mixture and knead. Refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes, then roll out to 3 mm and cut out shapes. Bake Christmas gingerbread in an oven preheated to 190°C for 10 minutes.

Recipe number 3 - Fragrant gingerbread

• 250 gr. Sahara;
• 600 gr. flour;
• egg;
• 250 gr. honey;
• 150 gr. oils;
• 25 gr. cocoa;
• 1 tsp baking powder;
• 3 tbsp Roma;
• a pinch of cloves, cardamom, vanilla and anise;
• 1 tsp cinnamon and ginger;
• zest of 1/2 lemon and orange.

Combine honey with butter and sugar. Heat the mixture in the microwave and set aside to cool slightly. Separate half of the flour and add all dry ingredients and zest to it. Put the eggs into the butter mixture, mix and pour the rum, then add it to the flour with spices and knead. Gradually stir in the second part of the flour. You should get a dense elastic dough. Wrap it in cling film and place it in the refrigerator for 8-10 hours. Roll out the dough to 3 mm, cut out the figures and place in the oven for 10 minutes.

Almond Christmas Cookie Recipe

• 250 gr. flour;
• 200 gr. ground almonds;
• 200 gr. Sahara;
• lemon peel;
• 1 tsp baking powder;
• 4 eggs.

Beat the sugar with the eggs, mix all the other ingredients in a separate container, and then combine the two mixtures. Knead a stiff dough, roll it out and squeeze out with molds or cut out figures. Place the dough in an oven preheated to 180° and bake for 10 minutes.

The dough for the gingerbread house is prepared in the same way as for Christmas gingerbread. The finished dough must be rolled out to 3 mm, attach a prepared paper stencil to it, for example, this:

To prepare this wonderful cupcake, you will need ingredients for various components.

For test:

• 250 ml of milk;
• 500 gr. flour;
• 14 gr. dry yeast;
• 100 gr. Sahara;
• 225 gr. butter;
• 1/4 tablespoon of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and ginger;
• a pinch of salt;
• zest of one lemon and orange.

For filling:

• 100 gr. almonds;
• 250 gr. raisins;
• 80 ml of rum;
• 75 gr. candied fruits and dried cranberries.

For powder:

• powdered sugar - the more it is, the better;
• 50 gr. butter.

Mix the filling ingredients and leave them for 6 hours. Stir periodically during this time.

Warm milk and butter to room temperature. Place the ingredients for the dough in a large bowl. Mix and knead. Cover the dough with a clean cloth or towel and leave to rise - this may take 1-2 hours. The dough comes out greasy and heavy, so it may not rise for a long time, but this must be waited for.

When the dough will do, enter the filling into it and knead again. Divide the mass into 2 identical parts, roll each to 1 cm in the shape of an oval, then fold as shown in the diagram:

Lubricate a baking sheet with vegetable oil, put the adit on it and leave for 40 minutes - it should rise a little. Place the cake in an oven preheated to 170-180°C and leave it there for an hour. Remove the pastry, check it with a match for readiness, let it stand for 5 minutes. Generously brush the surface of the adit with melted butter and dust it thickly with powdered sugar. After cooling, wrap the dish in parchment or foil and place in a dry place.

You can store a German Christmas cake for several months, before serving it is advisable to keep it for at least 1-2 weeks, and better month. This is necessary for the dish to be saturated with taste and aroma. But if there is no time, you can serve it fresh, the taste will not suffer very much from this, or cook another dish in the adit format - quick cupcake with dried fruits and

Today you can buy anything in the store, and if you wish, of course, you can also buy Christmas gingerbread. But will their taste and aroma meet expectations, or will it just beautiful pastries, hastily baked on a production scale for the Christmas holidays?

As it were, homemade baking- it is not only natural and insanely delicious, it is also some family traditions, warm friendships in the family.

Christmas Gingerbread - General Cooking Principles

The dough for Christmas gingerbread can be different: cooked in a raw way, where, due to the huge content of sugar, honey or molasses, it turns out to be both loose and viscous; cooked custard way, where the flour is first brewed, then the mixture is cooled and only then the rest of the ingredients are added; and in other ways.

The form for Christmas gingerbread plays a special role - it must be truly festive, in the form of various animals, snowmen, Christmas trees, gifts. To give shape, you can use either special molds, or sharp knife, which should be rolled in flour before cutting.

You can also add various fillings and toppings to Christmas gingerbread. Christmas gingerbreads are honey, ginger, chocolate, mint; nuts, candied fruits are added to the dough, citrus peel, chocolate chips. Much depends on your creativity and imagination. Don't be afraid to experiment and create something new.

Glaze. Perhaps, for Christmas gingerbread, its presence is the main detail. Indeed, it is thanks to the glaze that you can easily give your baked gingerbread figures holiday look. Prepare frosting for delicious pastries, like Christmas gingerbread, you can use 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 creation. culinary masterpiece. By adding children to such an exciting activity, you will ensure an evening of Christmas fun and happiness in your cozy kitchen.

In order to paint 30 Christmas gingerbread, you will need one egg white, cup powdered sugar and food colourings, prepared or prepared with my own hands.

Powdered sugar can be used, both ready-made and homemade. Before use, the powder must be sifted to avoid the formation of lumps. Now you need to mix the egg white and powdered 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 uniform.

It remains to divide the icing for tinting and apply a pattern to Christmas gingerbread using a pastry bag, regular cellophane bag or toothpicks, here it’s as convenient for anyone.

If you don't have or just don't like food coloring, you can color the icing using natural raw materials. For example, to get a brown color, add a few drops of strong tea or coffee. For glaze yellow color use saffron infusion or grated and sifted orange peel. Various tones of red can be made using various jams, jams. Shades of green will turn out if you boil chopped spinach.

Christmas Gingerbread Gingerbread

Ingredients:

Two glasses of flour premium;

Two spoons of baking powder;

110 grams of butter;

150 grams of granulated 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 slightly frozen, chopped butter.

3. Pour in the molasses, beat in the egg, pour in the granulated sugar.

4. Knead the dough with your hands or using a food processor.

5. You should succeed shortbread dough. Take it away for an hour freezer.

6. Now the most interesting, roll out the dough no more than one centimeter thick, sprinkle sugar on top, cut out the figures.

7. Bake Christmas gingerbread in an oven preheated to 200 degrees, laying them on a greased baking sheet.

8. Baking time fifteen minutes.

9. Cool the finished gingerbread, decorate with icing.

Christmas gingerbread "Honey with dried fruits"

Ingredients:

330 grams of premium flour;

280 grams of fresh liquid honey;

180 grams of powdered sugar;

Half a pack of butter;

Four eggs;

Half a teaspoon of soda;

Cinnamon - to taste;

200 grams of a mixture of dried apricots, peanuts, raisins and candied fruits;

Art. a spoonful of liquor.

Cooking method:

1. Wash and dry dried fruits, then cut as small as possible.

2. Add honey and powdered 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, liquor. Mix everything thoroughly.

5. Slowly pour the flour sifted and combined with soda into the mass. Knead the dough so that no lumps form.

6. Roll out the dough, cut out beautiful various figures, bake Christmas gingerbread cookies at 200 degrees on a greased baking sheet for 10 minutes.

7. Decorate the finished products with icing.

Christmas gingerbread "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 fruits - to taste;

Cloves - optional.

Cooking method:

1. Mix in large saucepan all sweet ingredients: granulated sugar, molasses, honey.

2. Set the pot to water bath, keep it there until all the components are combined, turning into a homogeneous consistency. Cool the finished sweet mass.

3. Add slightly salted sour cream, soda, dried fruits, spices and nuts to it. Stir.

4. Pour flour, knead the dough, put it in the refrigerator for 12 hours.

5. Roll out the settled mass, cut it out, bake for about ten minutes, decorate with icing patterns.

Christmas gingerbread "Mint"

Ingredients:

Two glasses of flour;

Baking powder spoon;

Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt - a pinch each;

Cup cane sugar;

One egg;

A quarter cup of vegetable oil;

Five drops of mint essence;

2 tbsp. spoons of honey.

Cooking method:

1. Pour vegetable oil, honey, mint essence into a deep bowl, beat in an egg, add sugar. Beat until smooth.

2. In another container, mix all the spices, flour and baking powder.

3. Gently pour the dry mixture into the liquid mass, knead the dough. It should turn out to be elastic, viscous, if it sticks, add a little flour.

4. Chill 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 for 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;

According to Art. a spoonful of honey and vanilla sugar.

Cooking method:

1. Grind sugar with eggs in a small container, add cardamom to the mass and vanilla sugar. Stir.

2. Pour into the resulting sweet mass of flour, knead thick dough.

3. Lubricate the baking sheet with melted butter, preheat the oven.

4. Roll out the dough, form gingerbread.

5. Bake for 15 minutes.

6. Spread the finished Christmas gingerbread with honey, decorate with icing.

Christmas gingerbread 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;

a teaspoon of soda;

600 grams of flour;

Three Art. spoons of honey;

250 ml of water;

Vegetable oil.

Cooking method:

1. Pour kefir into a deep container, add soda and sour cream. Whip the ingredients until bubbles appear.

2. In a separate bowl, mix eggs with honey and sugar.

3. Mix both mixtures as thoroughly as possible, then start adding flour.

4. The dough you made should be elastic, soft, the mass should not stick to your hands.

5. Stand the dough for about half an hour at room temperature.

6. Further actions are the same as in the previous recipes. Roll out the dough, cut out Christmas figurines, bake them, draw festive glazed patterns.

Large Christmas gingerbread with lemon zest

Ingredients:

One and a half glasses of flour;

One third of a glass of sugar;

One lemon;

Glass of water;

A glass of powdered sugar;

Vegetable oil;

Spoon apple cider vinegar;

You can optionally add cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg.

Cooking method:

1. Remove the zest from the washed lemon, pass it through a meat grinder or chop with a grater.

2. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients: sugar, flour, soda and your favorite spices.

3. Add lemon peel, two spoons vegetable oil, bite, water. Whisk appetizing mass.

4. Lubricate the baking dish with oil, pour into it lemon dough.

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 remains dry, a large Christmas gingerbread is ready.

6. Cool the product, paint it with festive multi-colored glaze.

7. If desired, you can cut your gingerbread lengthwise into two parts and lay out the filling. You will have an amazing Christmas gingerbread cake.

Christmas gingerbread "Chocolate"

Ingredients:

Half a kilo of flour;

300 grams of sugar;

50 grams of cocoa;

100 grams of butter;

Four eggs;

Soda spoon.

Cooking method:

1. Rub the butter with sugar and cocoa, add the yolks and mix well.

2. Separately beat egg whites until stiff. lush foam.

3. Sift flour and mix with soda.

4. Pour flour with soda into a mixture of yolks, sugar and cocoa, add whipped proteins. Knead a stiff dough.

5. Roll out a layer of 1-1.5 cm, cut out the figures.

6. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

7. Finished goods cover with glaze.

Oatmeal Christmas Gingerbread

Ingredients:

250 grams of flour;

A glass of sugar;

230 grams oatmeal;

Half a teaspoon 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, pour in oatmeal, mix. Set the mass aside for ten minutes to soften the flakes a little.

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, apply patterns with glaze.

When laying the Christmas gingerbread on the baking sheet, try not to put them close to each other. Rather than peeling off sticky figures, it is better to make two or three batches, the more gingerbread cookies are baked very quickly.

Since the dough for Christmas gingerbread is very sweet, pastries can easily stick to the baking sheet. Baking paper or a silicone mat will help with this problem.

In order not to overdry the Christmas gingerbread cookies, it is not recommended to bake them for more than 15 minutes. The oven must be preheated to 200 degrees.

Christmas gingerbread, packed in beautiful bags, will be a great gift for family and friends at Christmas.

Ready-made gingerbread can be stored up to 5 days.

Good holiday - Christmas,
What does it bring for us?
The smell of pine needles, laughter, fun,
Fruits, sweets, cookies!

The resinous sweet smell of pine needles, the crackling flirting of candles that play with the reflections of flames with their reflection in the dark mysterious window glass, the tempting smells of pastries with cinnamon and ginger, the shy spruce, bashfully hiding behind toys and serpentine ... People in almost two hundred countries of the world are looking forward to this evening and awe. Evening of December 24 in the Catholic tradition (January 6 in the Orthodox) - Christmas Eve, eve Christmas, the greatest and happy holiday in the Christian calendar, which is celebrated on December 25 by Catholics and on January 7 by Orthodox Christians.

Holiday recipes. Gingerbread and cookies for Christmas. Christmas cookie recipe. Gingerbread house. Christmas decorations with their own hands.

The House of Soviets recommends that you bake gingerbread and cookies for Christmas , This fast and easy , choose from our set christmas cookie recipes , the one that you will like ... For baking Christmas gingerbread, you need to start with a light good mood, be sure to mentally wish all the best to the one who gets them.

Gingerbread for Christmas, recipes:

Custard honey gingerbread.

These gingerbread cookies are very tasty and remain for a long time fresh and not stale.
Required Ingredients:
Honey - 300g.
Sugar - 300g.
Flour - 450 g.
Butter- 50g
Eggs - 2 pcs.
Water - 1.5 tbsp.
Soda - 0.5 tsp
Spices - 0.5 tsp

Mix honey, sugar, water in a saucepan, put on fire, warm up, remove the foam. Cool the syrup to a temperature of 70 degrees, add flour and quickly knead the dough. IN batter add ground spices(cardamom, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, star anise). At the end of the kneading, add butter, soda and eggs. By the way old recipe do not put soda, but add 50 - 100g. fat sour cream and 2 tbsp. any strong alcohol. The dough is loosened by weak fermentation sour cream and honey, and alcohol gives airiness. The dough should be actively kneaded for 10 minutes, it should turn out soft and plastic, easy to mold and take the desired shape, if the dough is dense - the gingerbread will turn out to be hard, if it is too soft, it will fall apart. Immediately roll out the dough with a thickness of 5-8 mm, cut out the figures. Can be sprinkled walnuts, add finely chopped dried apricots, prunes, raisins, dates, ground berries, caramelized jam inside. Bake at a temperature of 200 degrees, 8-15 minutes, depending on the size of the gingerbread. Lubricate the gingerbread with a brush with glaze and dry in the oven for 2 minutes. The 2nd option for coating the gingerbread with icing: put the gingerbread in a saucepan, pour over the icing and mix with a spatula, then put it on a sieve or colander so that the excess liquid is glass. Dry for a couple of minutes in the oven.

Required Ingredients:
Butter - 100g.
Sugar - 100g.
Eggs - 1 pc.
Flour - 1 cup.
Soda - 1 tsp
Spices: 1 tsp grated ginger, 0.5 tsp cardamom, 0.5 tsp cinnamon

Mix softened butter with sugar, add beaten egg.
Sift flour, add spices and soda. Combine both mixtures and knead the dough. Place the ball of dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Roll out a thin layer of dough, cut out figures. Cover the sheet with parchment, lay out the figures from the dough and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes
Honey Christmas gingerbread.

Required Ingredients:
Flour - 600g.
Margarine - 150g.
Eggs - 2 pcs + 2 yolks.
Sugar - 200g.
Honey - 150 ml.
Cinnamon - 0.5 tsp
Sour cream - 2 tablespoons
Soda - 1 tsp

Cooking.
Sift flour, mix with soda, add margarine, grated on coarse grater. Cut everything with a knife. Add sour cream, sugar, eggs, yolks, honey, cinnamon. Knead the dough and put in the freezer for 8-12 hours.
Roll out the dough into a layer, 5 mm thick. and cut out gingerbread shapes.
Grease a baking sheet with oil, sprinkle with flour and lay out the figures from the dough. Bake at 180 degrees for 5-10 minutes.
Cool the finished gingerbread cookies and grease with glaze.

Almond Christmas gingerbread.

Required Ingredients:

Flour - 250g.
Eggs - 4 pcs.
Ground almonds - 200g.
Sugar - 200g.
Vanilla sugar - 1 pack.
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Ground cinnamon - 1 tsp
Ground cardamom - on the tip of a knife.
Candied oranges - 50g.
Lemon candied fruits - 50g.
Lemon zest (half a lemon).

Cooking.
Beat eggs and sugar, vanilla sugar. Add ground almonds, chopped candied fruits, spices and lemon zest. Mix.
Mix flour with baking powder, add to the mixture and knead a stiff dough. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 0.5 cm and cut out the figures of angels. You can simply form small balls (then the gingerbread cookies will be softer).
Line a baking sheet with baking paper and lay out the cookies. Bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes. Finished gingerbread glaze.

Christmas cookies.

They bake similar cookies for Christmas in Finland, this is the recipe of one of my friends. Cookies are very tasty and fragrant, elegantly decorated. If you are thinking of making a Christmas tree decoration, then roll out the cookies thinner so that future Christmas decorations were easy.
According to the recipe for cookies, a lot is obtained, there will be something to treat the kids who will come to you to sing carols. By the way, it can be baked in advance and stored in a hermetically sealed container. The dough can be frozen for future use, make a reserve in case you want something tasty quickly or guests are on the doorstep. The dough for these cookies can be rolled out on a pasta machine, then your cookies will be perfectly even, thin and of the same thickness.

Required Ingredients:
Butter or margarine - 250 g.
Molasses (can be replaced dark honey or maple syrup) - 200 ml.
Brown sugar(he will add caramel notes to the taste) - 175 g.
Cream - 100 ml.
Eggs - 1 pc.
Red wine (can be substituted orange juice) - 100 ml.
Flour - 800g.
Spices: cardamom - 1 tsp, ground cinnamon - 1 tsp, ground ginger - 1 tsp, cloves - 1 tsp, orange peel- 1 tsp
Soda - 2-3 tsp

Mix molasses (honey), wine and spices, pour into a saucepan and boil.
Add oil, beat with a mixer until the mixture cools slightly.
Whisk cream, sugar and egg.
Sift flour, mix with soda. Pour part of the flour into the syrup of molasses and wine, mix, add the creamy-egg mixture and knead thoroughly. Add the rest of the flour and knead the dough until a homogeneous, dense and elastic consistency.
Wrap the finished dough in cling film and refrigerate for 12 hours, or longer.
Take out the dough and let it rest for an hour room temperature.
Roll out the dough, cut out shapes with cookie cutters.
Preheat oven 170 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay out cookies. Cookies are baked very quickly, about 5 minutes, the main thing is not to overdry.

Chocolate gingerbread with ginger


Required Ingredients:

Butter - 130g.
Sugar -200g.
Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp.
Eggs - 4 pcs.
Flour - 250 g.
Raisins - 200g.
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Ginger (grated) - 2 tsp
Vanilla sugar - 1 pack.

Beat the butter, add sugar, ginger, vanilla sugar and stir until the sugar grains dissolve. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly. Mix: flour, baking powder, cocoa. Combine both masses and knead the dough. Add raisins, pre-wash and dry. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Cut out shapes from the pastry sheet. Grease a baking sheet with oil, lay out the figures from the dough and bake for 20 minutes. Another option: roll out the dough in a layer and bake, then cut into squares, cool, grease with melted chocolate, decorate with nuts and candied fruits.

Gingerbread frosting recipe.

Required Ingredients:
Egg white - 1 pc.
Powdered sugar (you can use a dry mixture of glaze) - 1 tbsp.
0.5 tsp lemon juice.
Beat the egg white until foamy, gradually adding the powdered sugar and lemon juice. Add food coloring if you want to get colored glaze. Can add natural dyes: juice of beets, spinach, carrots.
Gingerbread painted with this glaze must be dried in the oven.

In the cut out figures from the dough, you can make windows, or colored edges: make a recess or hole in the dough and put crushed colored candies, bake.

04.01.2017

The custom of giving each other Christmas gingerbread dates back to the 13th century in southeastern Germany. Then the dessert was called lebkuchen, prepared from honey dough with almonds and cinnamon and richly decorated sweet icing. Baking gingerbread in those days was considered one of the most prestigious crafts, bakers came up with their own original recipes and sought to keep them secret from competitors.

Gingerbread appeared in Russia only in the 18th century. They differed from traditional German lebkuchens in size and shape, but the composition of the dough was almost identical. They were not, as in Europe, an attribute of Christmas - they were baked for many holidays, for weddings and name days, as well as for Easter.

And only recently the tradition of baking special gingerbread for Christmas began to become popular in Russia. In our article, we will share with you the most simple recipes cooking them at home

Traditional German gingerbread

Nuremberg Lebkuchen

Ingredients:

• eggs - 3 pcs;
• cream - 250g;
• flour - 250g;
• sugar - 125g;
• honey - 50g;
• ground almonds - 125g;
• chopped almonds - 125g;
• lemon candied fruit- 125g;
• ground spices: nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves - to taste;
• a few drops of rum and lemon essence.

Let's start with the preparation of the cakes. To do this, beat with a mixer a mixture of one egg, a spoonful of sugar, a pinch of salt and cream, gradually adding the sifted flour to it. When we get a homogeneous mass, roll it into a thick sausage with a diameter of about 6 cm and cut into round pieces. We spread them on a baking sheet, after laying baking paper, and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at a temperature of 160 degrees. We cool the resulting cakes for several hours, you can leave them overnight.

Beat the remaining eggs and 125 grams of sugar with a mixer along with ground and chopped almonds, candied fruits, spices and essences. You should get a thick aromatic mass of a creamy consistency. We spread it on cooled flat cakes and again put the baking sheet in the oven for about 20 minutes, setting the temperature to 180 degrees.

Almond Lebkuchen from Nuremberg

Classic gingerbread

Ingredients:

• honey - 70g;
• cinnamon - 1 tsp;
• cloves - 1 tsp;
• cocoa powder - 1 tsp;
• salt - 1 tsp;
• soda - 1 tsp;
• ground ginger - 1 pinch;
• butter - 125g;
• eggs - 2pcs;
• sugar - 250g;
• flour - 750g.

In a small saucepan, mix honey, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, cocoa powder and salt, put it on fire and bring the resulting mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Then remove the pan from the stove, immediately add the butter to it, mix again and leave to cool.

Take a mixer and beat the eggs with sugar. Add the cooled honey mass, then soda and sifted flour. Knead the dough until a homogeneous mass is obtained, and then send it to the refrigerator for a day.

The next day, we take out the dough and roll it out to a thickness of 3-5 mm, and then using special baking molds we make small figures out of it. We cover the baking sheet with baking paper and carefully, using a special metal spatula, we shift our gingerbread cookies onto it. Bake them for 7-10 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees.

Christmas gingerbread

Recipe for gingerbread from Yulia Vysotskaya

Ingredients:

• flour - 250g;
• cane sugar- 100g;
• butter - 100g;
• cream 10% fat - 100g;
• maple syrup - 50 ml;
• ginger root - 10g;
• dry ginger - 0.5 tsp;
• egg - 1 pc;
• baking powder - 1 tsp;
• cinnamon - 1 tsp;
• carnation stars - 3 pcs.

Grind cinnamon and cloves into powder and mix with dry ginger, rub the washed and peeled ginger root on a grater. Then put the cream, maple syrup, ginger and spices in a small saucepan, put it on the fire and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

While spicy cream with maple syrup cool, beat butter, egg and sugar with a mixer. In the resulting mass, without ceasing to beat, gradually add flour and baking powder, and then pour creamy mixture. After obtaining a homogeneous mass, put the resulting dough for a day in the refrigerator.

The next day, as in previous recipe, roll out the dough, make small figures and put the gingerbread cookies in the oven for 15 minutes at a temperature of 180-200 degrees.

How to make icing sugar

Christmas gingerbread is traditionally decorated with colorful patterns. icing sugar. To prepare it, we need to beat an egg white with a few drops of lemon juice, gradually adding a glass of sifted powdered sugar and, if desired, food coloring. The resulting mixture is poured into cream injector, with which we further paint our gingerbread.

Gingerbread in multi-colored glaze

Christmas gingerbread is a traditional holiday treat which has long enjoyed great popularity in Europe. The birthplace of this sweet is Germany. Here it is called "lebkuchen". About what German Christmas gingerbread is, photos of which are on the eve of new year holidays can be found almost everywhere, as well as how to cook them at home, we'll talk today.

Story

As already mentioned, Germany became the birthplace of Christmas gingerbread. According to researchers, the recipe for this sweet was invented by Franconian monks back in the 13th century. However, the Lebkuchens also had predecessors, which in ancient times were simply called honey cakes. The inhabitants of Ancient Egypt, Greece and the Roman Empire pampered themselves with them. In those days, it was believed that honey is a real gift from the gods, endowed with magical and healing properties. Cakes made from this product were used as talismans and amulets. The Germanic peoples also used this pastry for similar purposes, Special attention giving to her during the celebration of the winter solstice. It is possible that for this reason honey gingerbread began to be associated with Christmas. Today they are very popular not only in their homeland, but also in many other countries. Modern Christmas gingerbread is a pastry, which includes honey, almonds, citron and a number of other ingredients. Often it is given a funny shape, and also decorated with white or multi-colored icing.

Christmas honey gingerbread: a simple recipe

This method of preparing lebkuchen is not only relatively easy, but also, one might say, classic. Therefore, if you want to treat your household and guests with a real German Christmas gingerbread, use our tips.

Ingredients

This recipe honey gingerbread(domestic) involves the use of a wide variety of products. In order not to spoil the pastries, you should take care of their availability in advance. So it will take the following ingredients:

• 500 grams of rye flour,
• 300 grams
• 400 grams brown sugar
• 12 tablespoons of flower honey,
• 4 eggs,
• 90 grams of butter,
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 20 grams of cocoa powder,
• one lemon,
• one teaspoon ground cinnamon and cloves
• 100 grams
• 60 grams of candied lemon peel,
• 100 grams of raisins,
• 140 grams of hazelnut.

We will use the listed products to prepare dough for Christmas gingerbread. The recipe for this baking also involves the preparation of glaze to decorate the culinary product. We will make it from two egg yolks and three tablespoons of milk.

Inventory

In order for the preparation of lebkuchen to go off without a hitch, you should take care not only about the ingredients. You will also need inventory:

• cutting board,
• tablespoons and teaspoons
• bowl,
• a few saucers
• small bowl,
• cezve or small saucepan
• whisk or mixer
• a couple of medium bowls
• food film,
• grater,
• rolling pin,
• pastry molds,
• baking paper,
• kitchen potholders,
• serving dish,
• pastry brush.

Cooking process

So if you bought everything necessary products and acquired the required equipment, you can proceed to the creation of lebkuchens. We will start cooking German honey by cutting lemon and candied oranges into small pieces. Then chop with a knife hazelnuts. Now let's take a look at the raisins. Pour it into a bowl, pour cold water and let it swell for a while. After that, drain the water and wash the raisins several times under running water. Let's dry it out a little. paper towel or napkins, spread on and finely chop with a knife.

Wash the lemon, pat dry fine grater rub the skin. We will get a fragrant zest. Cut butter in small pieces and leave to warm up at room temperature. In a small bowl, break the eggs and beat them with a mixer or whisk until uniform consistency.

So, we continue to find out how to cook honey gingerbread at home. We take a Turk or a small saucepan and put honey in it, and then we fall asleep. We put it on the stove, turn it on small fire and, stirring constantly, heat until the mass becomes homogeneous. We take it off the stove.

Cooking the dough

In a bowl, combine the hot sugar-honey mixture and softened pieces of butter. Mix everything with a spoon until smooth. Pour in the eggs and beat with a mixer. In a separate bowl, combine two types of flour, cocoa powder, soda and other dry ingredients. Mix them with a whisk or spoon. Gradually add the flour mixture to the honey-butter mass and knead the dough. It's best to do it by hand.

To make the German Christmas gingerbread very tasty and fragrant, in the process of kneading the dough, add prepared chopped nuts, candied fruits, raisins and lemon zest to it. Knead the dough well until you get a dense, homogeneous mass that easily lags behind your hands. Dust a work surface lightly with flour and place the dough on it. We roll it with our hands into a thick sausage, wrap it in and send it to the freezer for about half an hour. After that, we transfer the dough to the refrigerator and leave it for several hours (preferably overnight).

We form gingerbread

After ready dough spends several hours in the refrigerator, you can proceed to one of the most interesting stages - the formation of future lebkuchens.

So, sprinkle a little flour on the kitchen table and put the dough sausage freed from the cling film on it. Using a rolling pin, we begin to roll it into a layer, the thickness of which should be at least five millimeters. What shape each Christmas gingerbread will be is up to you. Therefore, armed with confectionery molds, we cut out small figures from the dough. We shift them to the laid parchment paper baking sheet. From the rest of the dough, we again make a sausage, roll it into a layer and again form future gingerbread cookies.

Preparing the glaze and baking lebkuchen

After we have formed the future gingerbread and put them on a baking sheet, turn on the oven at 175 degrees. While it's heating up, let's make the frosting. Combine in a small bowl egg yolks and milk. Whisk the ingredients with a whisk until smooth. Our frosting is ready. Armed with a pastry brush, cover the surface of our gingerbread with icing. We send the baking sheet to the preheated oven for 13-15 minutes. After this time, we extract our wonderful festive dessert and leave to cool.

German Christmas gingerbread prepared according to this recipe is very tasty and fragrant. Such pastries will surely please all your household and guests. Be sure to try making lebkuchen for a festive tea party!

• you can easily replace rye flour in the recipe with corn or wheat flour;
• on average, the thickness of the finished gingerbread is 0.5-1 cm. But the thicker your culinary product, the softer it will be inside;
• The finished dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks;
• for the preparation of lebkuchen, you can use not only the spices indicated by us, you can add ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, allspice, and other products to your taste in the dough;
• the big advantage of lebkuchens is their long term storage - so if you put them in a glass or tin tightly closed jar, they will not become stale and retain their aroma for several weeks.

Lebkuchen decoration options

Christmas gingerbread, the recipe of which we have given, can be covered not only with ordinary icing from milk and egg yolks. You can use any decoration option you like. As examples, here are a couple of options for icing for lebkuchen.

Icing

To prepare it, we need already beaten egg white - 1 tablespoon, lemon juice - 1 tablespoon, powdered sugar - from 75 to 110 grams. Mix the protein and lemon juice in a bowl, and then gradually begin to beat in the powdered sugar. You should get a smooth mass, similar in texture to cream. This glaze, applied to the surface of the gingerbread, forms a thin sugar shell.

royal icing

This glaze recipe is often used by those cooks and housewives who want to beautifully and elegantly decorate the Christmas gingerbread. You can even apply it to the baking surface with a thin brush. In addition, liquid or dry dyes are often added to the glaze, which makes lebkuchen bright and truly festive.

So to prepare royal icing, we need the following ingredients: one egg white and about 200 grams of powdered sugar. To begin with, lightly beat the protein. Then gradually add the powder to it, beating well. As a result, we should get a homogeneous mixture that forms soft peaks. If you do not plan to immediately use the icing to decorate the gingerbread, it can be placed in a small bowl, remembering to cover the surface cling film, which will prevent the formation of a crust. Finished glaze can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days.