The history of the gingerbread man is as old as the world, but it came to us relatively recently. An interesting and tasty tradition, filled with Christmas aromas and homely warmth, was liked by many. Most of us learned about the existence of the gingerbread man from fairy tales or films, but he is by no means a fantasy of the authors, but, on the contrary, a very real character from life. Who is this gingerbread man? The recipe for its creation is shrouded in many stories, fabulous and not very.
How it was
Long ago, Queen Elizabeth I of England decided to surprise the guests and present them with an unusual Christmas treat. She ordered to bake cookies, reminiscent in the form of noble invited people. The chefs did their best: the delicacy was decorated with intricate coils of glaze and turned out to be surprisingly tasty. And the idea itself turned out to be very successful: it was interesting for guests to guess themselves in a sweet and fragrant treat. There was a rumor about him, and soon the idea of baking bread in the shape of little men settled already in the homes of ordinary people. So, a tasty and kind New Year's tradition, the Christmas gingerbread man, set off to travel the world. The recipe for its preparation has changed, improved and today came to us, perhaps in its best form. It is customary to bake cookies , put them in multi-colored holiday bags and give them to children, and they decorate the Christmas tree and the house, treat guests, and according to legend, the gingerbread man is the favorite treat of Santa Claus.
So different little people
In fact, any gingerbread cookie can serve as the basis from which the gingerbread man will be made. The recipe for cooking can be different, but certainly there is a little aromatic ginger and different spices in each. The shape of the cookies may also vary. It can be boys and girls, snowmen and various fantastic fairy-tale characters. You can dilute them with cookies in the form of snowflakes or Christmas stars. However, anyone has enough imagination. Special attention should be paid to decoration. Traditionally , a gingerbread man cookie has eyes, a mouth and buttons on a shirt, which a cheerful hero from a fairy tale values very much. You can decorate with icing, raisins, and make a mouth out of a lemon or orange peel. To decorate a Christmas tree with them, you should make a small hole in the dough in advance, through which after you pass the ribbon and use it to hang the little man.
Making a mold
In fact, today such baking is not a problem, in almost every store a form is sold. A gingerbread man can be cut using a pastry pattern or baked in silicone molds. By the way, the size can also be different - from very tiny to large and voluminous cookies. If your store did not find such utensils - do not be discouraged. This is not a reason to think that on Christmas Eve a gingerbread man will not come to visit your kids. A cookie template can be cut out of plain paper and give it a silhouette that you like the most successful. It only remains to roll out the dough, lay the paper piece on top and cut it out with an ordinary knife in shape.
You can use another idea. The cookie cutter can be made of thin tin ribbon. It remains only to give her the form of a man. For the material, you can use an empty can of Coca-Cola or another drink. Cut the top and bottom of the can. Cut the resulting cylinder in half - so you get a rectangular sheet. It remains to cut long strips, give them shape and fasten the edges. This pattern is laid on a rolled ginger dough and a gingerbread man is cut with a light touch. You can use a cookie recipe from this article.
Gingerbread cookie recipe
In fact, it can be anything, but if you haven’t prepared gingerbread cookies before, we will be happy to give you a couple of excellent recipes. And even if cookies with ginger in your house have not found their recognition, do not give up the idea. You just need to bake your family’s favorite cookies in the shape of little men and decorate them.
For 700 g of flour, take: 100 g of margarine, a glass of sugar, half a glass of molasses, an egg, 2 tsp each. ground: cinnamon, ginger and cloves, 1 tsp soda and salt (pinch).
Arm yourself with a mixer and beat the sugar with softened butter until a smooth plastic mass, then add the egg and mix well. Introduce the rest of the ingredients into the mass and, while continuing to work with the mixer at a slow speed, gradually introduce the flour. Put the dough in a bag and leave to cool in the refrigerator for 1.5 - 2 hours.
Roll out the dough in a 1.5 cm thick cake and cut out the cookie. Place on a baking sheet covered with paper and bake for 15 minutes at 190 degrees. Cool and decorate to your taste.
Honey Ginger Cookies
For 1 kilogram of flour, take: ½ kg of honey, 200 g of granulated sugar, 300 g of margarine, 2 eggs, 50 g of cocoa, baking powder for baking - 2 tsp. Add to your taste spices: ground dried ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and black pepper.
Melt the honey with sugar and margarine, the sugar should completely dissolve. Sift flour, when the honey mass cools down - combine. Add ground spices, eggs. Knead the dough. It should turn out smooth and not stick to hands or a table. Roll a ball out of it, put it in a bag and put it in the refrigerator for an hour.
The dough is rolled 1 cm thick. A gingerbread man (template) is placed on top and the product is cut out. The baking sheet should be covered with baking paper, spread out the cookies and put in the oven for 10 minutes (temperature 180 degrees). Cool. Cook multi-colored icing and decorate cookies.
Do you know?
Gingerbread cookies in the shape of a little man have a fun and eventful life. He became a real hero of films and cartoons. And almost every kid from Western countries knows the tale "About the Gingerbread Man". The most interesting thing is that in it the main character - the man from the gingerbread dough - completely repeats the story of our Kolobok, who jumped out of the oven and left his grandparents. Many different stories are connected with the little man, each storyteller tells them in his own way. But the tale ends, however, it is still sad - the sly and sneaky Fox eats the ginger traveler.