Gingerbread, Christmas in a cookie
The little ones gingerbread or gingerbread men have now become the biscuit symbol of the Christmas holidays par excellence, and not only in northern Europe, where they originate from.
Il secret of this spicy dough is in the ingredients and the ability to cook them in the right way: they must not in fact be too dry or hard, but maintain a soft and fragrant consistency, despite being so thin.
In addition to the classic shape of the little man, they can also be cut out with stencils in the shape of a star, moon, bell or Christmas tree and be decorated with the classic freezes white.
Here is the basic recipe for gingerbread cookies, to have fun with the children to prepare them, give them to friends, take them to your relatives at Christmas or use them to decorate the tree or fill the Christmas Eve table.
Gingerbread cookie recipe
Ingredients for about 30 cookies:
> 180 g of white flour 00;
> 35 g of refined granulated sugar + 35 g of whole cane sugar;
> 75 g of butter;
> 75 g of dark molasses or chestnut honey;
> 1 egg;
> a pinch of salt;
> the tip of a teaspoon of baking soda;
> 1 teaspoon of ginger powder;
> 1 teaspoon of cinnamon;
> the tip of a teaspoon of nutmeg;
> the tip of a teaspoon of powdered cloves.
Preparation
Put the flour on the pastry board, add the spices, sugar and salt; then the cold butter cut into pieces, the molasses and the egg; knead quickly with your fingertips, form a ball, wrap it in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for a couple of hours.
After this time, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 4 mm and proceed to give the desired shape to your biscuits with the chosen molds; bake in the oven hot at 180 ° for about 10-12 minutes. Let them cool to make them thicken.
Curiosity: do you know what ginger contains? In the ginger rhizome there are particular substances called gingerols e shogaoli which give it the typical pungent and aromatic flavor, hence the use in the kitchen as spice.
Ginger can be a natural cure also because it stimulates the digestive functions, has an anti-inflammatory action, helps in cases of nausea and stimulates circulation.
Read also How to add ginger in recipes >>
Photo: 5second / 123rf.com
