According to legend, the history of the emergence of gingerbread cookies is as follows. A long time ago, a certain monk, wishing to diversify the rather insipid and monotonous life of his brothers, decided to prepare something unusual and amazing for them for the holiday of Holy Christmas. Or maybe he just accidentally turned the jar of spices into the cachet dough, but it turned out to be an amazing flavorful cookie. And today in Western Europe, not a single New Year's holiday is complete without this easy-to-prepare and very tasty food.
It is necessary
- - 2 cups wheat flour;
- - 200 grams of sugar (glass)
- - salt -1/4 teaspoon;
- - cloves (ground) - 1 teaspoon;
- - cinnamon (ground) - 2 teaspoons;
- - ginger (ground) - 2 teaspoons;
- - cardamom (or black pepper) - 0.5 teaspoon (optional);
- - baking powder 1 teaspoon (can be replaced with soda - 0.5 teaspoon);
- - eggs -2 pieces;
- - icing sugar -150 grams (3/4 cup).
Instructions
Step 1
The dough for gingerbread cookies is actually shortbread, so the technology for its preparation is the same. Combine soft butter with sugar, add one egg. Whisk the mixture well in a blender (3-5 minutes). Stir the flour, spices and baking powder and salt thoroughly. Add whipped butter there and knead into a homogeneous plastic dough.
Step 2
For shortcrust pastry, its temperature is very important. To make the dough easy to cut, you need to cool it down to about 18-20 ° C. Wrap the finished dough in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes. But don't let the dough go cold.
Step 3
Roll out the finished dough into a layer about 0.5 cm thick. You can cut out circles with an ordinary glass, but the beauty of this cookie lies precisely in the variety of its shapes. Cut out various figures with special cutters. Using a wide knife, gently transfer them to a floured (or lined with parchment paper) baking sheet and bake until golden brown at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Step 4
While the cookies are in the oven, prepare the frosting. Separate the protein, mix it with the icing sugar and beat with a mixer until a thick foam forms. It is easy to determine the readiness of the glaze: take a full teaspoon of the glaze, put it on a plate, while the glaze should retain its shape, not settle or spread. You can make some of the glaze colored. Separate a small amount of the finished glaze, add 2-3 drops of juice of beets, carrots, chokeberry, so you get three different colors.
Step 5
Cool the finished cookies and use a cooking syringe to paint with icing. A properly prepared glaze dries up in a couple of hours.
Step 6
Traditionally, these cookies are used to decorate Christmas trees and are presented in festive sets. Do you want to please your little ones? Then, after cutting out the cookies from the dough, make a small hole in each (for example, with a thimble) for the ribbon. Delicious Christmas tree decorations are ready.
