There are evidence of the existence of gingerbread since the XI-th century, when the Crusaders brought the ginger to Europe, from the Middle East, an ingredient highly valued in the Middle Ages. Bakers made cakes in wooden shapes, and ginger was the indispensable ingredient.
In the 13th century, German emigrants brought gingerbread to Sweden, where nuns sold it as digestive biscuits. The Swedes began painting gingerbread cookies and displaying them in the windows on the eve of the Christmas holidays.
The initial ingredients for the gingerbread were: breadcrumbs, sugar, ground hazelnuts and ginger. Over time, the English added eggs to the recipe and replaced breadcrumbs with wheat flour.
Nowadays there are very different recipes with wheat or rye flour, with white or brown sugar, with honey, with or without nuts, with cinnamon and more than that, ginger is no longer mandatory.
In Poland gingerbread looks like a crunchy and thin biscuit and is called “pierniczki”, in the Czech Republic it is called “pernik”, in the Nordic countries “pepparkakor”, in Germanic countries it is called “lebkuchen”.
Gingerbread has become known in many countries since the 1800s, becoming the “Christmas cake”.
The gingerbread house described in the “Hansel and Gretel” story by the Brothers Grimm, inspired the custom of modeling Christmas gingerbread houses.
Ingredients:
1300 g of white flour
250 g sugar
250 g molasses
baking powder
ginger
nutmeg
cinnamon
Kosher salt
Instructions:
Mix all the ingredients, knead a little by hand and let it rest for a while, then spread evenly a sheet from which the desired shapes are cut.
Marieta built the walls of the gingerbread house on her own.
She first cut out the models of the facades, the roof, the snowmen and the pine trees.
He then spread the sheet of dough and cut it out using the paper pattern.
She used a special knife, like the one in the picture above, but you can also use a regular one.
In the hollows of the windows she put some jellies, before putting the tray in the oven. These will melt and occupy the cut space. This way you will get gingerbread house windows.
Ingredients for Royal icing:
500 g powdered sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
9 tablespoons of water
If you do not have special powder for meringues, you can use 2 egg whites, but you will have to reduce the amount of water. The decorating device will be very important, depending on how sharp the tip is, you will know how firm to make the cream. Use a mixer and if you think it is too liquid, you can add more sugar.
Marieta used only: 250g of sugar, 2 egg whites and the juice of half a lemon, which she beat with a mixer.
Use a chopper or anything with a flat surface on which to build the gingerbread house. Start gluing the walls with the cream. It may take a while for them to stick, so I recommend using glasses to support the walls.
- Robert, Marieta’s eldest nephew, proudly shows us his gingerbread house.
2. Aaron shows to us his work
3. Little Serena smiles behind her gingerbread house.
4. But the Zicman family could not help but work for the smallest member. So Victoras also has his gingerbread house.
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5. Clara, my niece used a ready-baked gingerbread wall and roof. With care and love she decorated her beautiful house. After she build it, she decided to share it with the whole family. Thanks, it was delicious!
6. And here is my gingerbread house. I have used a ready-baked gingerbread wall and roof too, for decoration: royal icing with egg and starch, marshmallows, macarons, strawberry topping and sugar ornaments (stars, balls, butterflies).
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