Christmas is fast approaching and is almost at the door. You don’t have to wait for Advent to create the right festive atmosphere. Start baking now and prepare pre-Christmas gingerbread cookies for your family at home.
Although, according to the calendar, we can only look forward to the days of Advent, nothing prevents you from perfuming your home with the pleasant aroma of gingerbread, whose delicious taste will be appreciated not only by children, but also by all adults. This type of sweet candy is ideal for November visits and moments of well-being and goes not only with tea, but also with good coffee. The advantage of pre-Christmas gingerbread cookies is that you don’t have to let them sit, because they are immediately soft.
How to prepare autumn gingerbread with a wooden pattern? Watch an interesting YouTube video on the Gingerbread channel:
Source: Youtube
Ingredients needed
To prepare the dough, prepare 100 g of butter, 2 to 4 heaping spoons of honey, 2 eggs, 140 g of caster sugar, 400 g of plain flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 2 teaspoons of gingerbread spice, 2 teaspoons of Dutch cocoa, flour for dusting and 1 egg for smearing. To prepare the glaze, you will need 1 egg white, 180 grams of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of potato starch, a little lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
Preparing the dough
First, heat the butter in a saucepan and mix it with the honey. Then beat the eggs with sugar until foamy and gradually beat the butter and honey into this mixture. Then sift the flour into a bowl, mix it with baking soda, gingerbread spice and cocoa and carefully work it into the egg foam in small batches. Finally, make a smooth dough and put it in the fridge for at least half an hour.
Make gingerbread cookies
After the specified time, remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into two halves. Roll out a sheet about 3 millimeters thick from each on a floured work surface and cut gingerbread from it according to your imagination or using molds. Then place them on a baking sheet pre-lined with baking paper.
You can start baking
Then place the tray with the gingerbread cookies in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes until golden.
Do you want gingerbread with glitter?
If you want the gingerbread to be beautifully shiny, brush it while still hot with a beaten egg using a silicone or feather brush. Then let cool.
Decorated with frosting
First, prepare the frosting. Sieve the sugar twice and gradually beat it into the egg white together with the starch and lemon juice. The chosen amount of sugar always depends on the size of the egg used and how thick you want the icing to be. When you are ready, put it in a pastry bag with a thin decorating tip and decorate the individual gingerbreads according to your imagination.
A final tip
If you don’t have time to decorate with frosting, or if you don’t feel skilled enough, you can cut winter motifs into the gingerbread with a knife, or decorate them with hazelnuts or almonds.
Resources: www.fresh.iprima.cz, www.novinky.cz
