Special ep. – Christmas gingerbread

Gingerbread, turtă dulce, Lebkuchen. A variety of biscuits sweetened with honey or molasses and seasoned with ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and especially cloves. It is said that in the beginning they were recommended for indigestion, to later be part of the traditional Christmas sweets. It is also true that the spices are perfect for the cold winter weather. 🙂

My usual recipe is actually a cake, but this year I said to try the decorated biscuit version as well. You know, the ones that are bought especially from the traditional fairs and where you sometimes break your teeth. :))

I combined – well, what do you expect ??? 😛 – a recipe from Jamie, which melts the wet ingredients on the fire, then mixes them with the dry ones, with the second option, the one that mixes the ingredients cold. The result was not a disaster. 🙂

125 g butter, 3 tablespoons honey (or molasses), 100 g brown sugar (or normal, what you have) are melted, over low heat, stirring constantly, then allowed to cool slightly. In this composition you add the dry ingredients: 300 g flour, baking powder, salt and spices (half a teaspoon of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ground and two teaspoons of ground ginger). I am not sure, but I think I missed the salt :))) And the nutmeg. Plus I used ginger powder, but you can also use fresh grated ginger. This was Jamie’s recipe. What I borrowed from the others was 1 egg, added at the end (the dough should be as cold as possible), plus another tablespoon of flour.

The result was a super sticky dough, put in the bag, somewhere cold, for at least an hour. In my case, for two days, because I did not have time for it :))) Then it is spread on a board lightly powdered with flour and cut into shapes. I tried several variants, of different sizes and thicknesses, but my biscuits came out quite thin. In the oven, in a baking tray, at 180 degrees (medium to low), about 10 minutes. Actually watch closely and move the tray, if you don’t want to burn the gingerbread, like me :)))

It is a rather pretentious dough compared to others, but, once a year, it is worth it. It can be a fun activity to do with kindergarteners or friends.

You can leave them like this or decorate them. With all kinds of dried fruits, candies or chocolate or coconut flakes. Or with royal icing.

See here all the disasters in the kitchen.