All types of Gingerbread: about the most loved Christmas candy
St. Nicholas is already over, it's half-time for Christmas. Sometimes you can hardly wait. How good that there are all the little nibbles around Christmas time, with which you can sweeten the time for yourself. One of these nibbles is probably the gingerbread.
But such a gingerbread is in its choice of ingredients and in its preparation now really no sweet tooth, which one would attribute simplicity. With flour, honey, anise, fennel, ginger, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, mace, cloves, allspice, cinnamon and a loosening agent such as potash or ammonium bicarbonate (baking powder or baking soda is also possible, of course), the basic mixture of the gingerbread is first created. Sometimes eggs, almonds, other nuts, rock candy or marzipan are added. Just as you like.
In addition to the dough, you should also think about the shape, filling and how to use the gingerbread.
Gingerbread varieties
Depending on the taste and also the look, you can choose between different types:
- Shaped gingerbread
Where there used to be rather only church motifs, today there are gingerbreads in pretty much any shape. Whether star, man or house, sometimes even as a Christmas tree. So already the shape of the gingerbread can be varied. In addition, of course, there is no limit to the decoration. With icing in all colors you can create what you like. In addition, you can use small sugar beads, mini marshmallows or even dried fruit to spice up the work of art. I wonder if that's ever too good to eat.
In addition to the individual small figures, it is also common to build a gingerbread house at Christmas time. Here the individual parts (walls, roof) are baked from gingerbread, glued together with icing and of course also decorated with all colors, sweets and lots of love. Because the witch from the forest wants to live in a beautiful sweet hut.
Pulsnitz gingerbread is particularly well known. They are produced in Pulsnitz, Saxony. Their recipe is so modified that they keep even longer than normal gingerbread. Here, for example, there are the Elisen gingerbread, almond sliver gingerbread, filled spikes - that is, filled gingerbread with all kinds of different flavors -, spice gingerbread and and and...
Analogous to the Pulsnitz gingerbread, the same applies here: only genuine from Nuremberg. Finest Elisen gingerbread or wafer gingerbread as far as the eye can see. Whether with chocolate or icing, whether round, heart-shaped or even star-shaped. With marzipan, less sugar, with plum and cinnamon, with almonds or from spelt flour. Variations upon variations, so there is certainly something for everyone.
- Gravy Cake
Last but not least in this list is the somewhat different gingerbread: the gravy cake. This is less sweet than the normal conventional gingerbread and serves to bind and refine dark gravies. It is often used with marinated meat or game dishes - all year round, of course, but especially at Christmas and roasting time.
A heart for the marketplace
Besides all the Christmas gingerbread, of course, you cannot forget about the gingerbread market. Whether in heart shape or even in flower or bear shape. Here, too, you can find various versions with an enormous amount of icing for decoration. Sometimes even with a declaration of love, so that one probably eats these gingerbreads less than that one hangs them up as decoration.
Not in the mood for biting?
If you don't like to nibble on gingerbread, you can also have a gingerbread latte and sip it with a fine cream topping. Those who like it even more exclusive can try the gingerbread souffle or the gingerbread tiramisu.
And now bon appétit!
And now bon appétit!
You may also be interested in: Spekulatius biscuits: a Christmas treat with history and flavor