Gingerbread, Christmas in a biscuit
The small 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.
The secret of this spicy mixture is in the ingredients and in 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 little man's figure, they can also be cut out with star, moon, bell or Christmas tree molds and decorated with the classic white ice .
Here is the basic recipe for gingerbread cookies, to have fun with the children, prepare them, give them to friends, bring them to your relatives at Christmas, or use them to decorate the tree or cover the Christmas table.
Gingerbread cookies recipe
Ingredients for about 30 cookies:
> 180 g of white flour 00;
> 35 grams 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 ground 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 a plastic wrap 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 cookies with the chosen molds; bake in a hot oven at 180 ° for about 10-12 minutes . Let them cool to make them coagulate.
Curiosity: do you know what ginger contains? In the ginger rhizome there are particular substances called gingerols and shogaols which give it the typical pungent and aromatic flavor, from which it is used in the kitchen as a spice.
Ginger can also be a natural cure because it is stimulating for digestive functions, has an anti-inflammatory action, helps in cases of nausea and stimulates circulation.
