Recipe for gingerbread

[babesinarms]

Its that time of year again for me to make the now ‘traditional’ gingerbread house for the kids. I am NOT allowed to get out of it - you know what it’s like with these traditions! I love making them, it’s just so hot here, that I avoid using the oven if I can. However, that being said, I thought I might get an ‘early’ start this year. With most of you folks living in these colder climates during this season, I thought that maybe one of you might have a tried and tested gingerbread recipe. I have done a lot of ‘experimenting’ over the years, many were pretty good, others ‘iffy’, and one that was just like cardboard! (ugghh!!) Problem each year, is that If I do a ‘successful’ one, by the next year, I always forget which one it is(#$@@^%$$)!!! I know - I should mark it as such, but I ALWAYS think, in my ‘mango madness’ that of course I’ll know for next time - and so the saga goes on! I must admit tho, I do love experimenting with new recipes - so if you have any that you’d like to post, that would be so great and have me more motivated to start early this year.

P.S. We use metric here, but I can normally convert from imperial measures. Oh, and if you say ‘shortening’ - could you please clarify what this is - I’ve always taken it to mean butter here - ???
Thanks in anticipation!!:coolinoff:

 

[kristacecilia]

This is a great recipe I use. I found it on the St. Nicholas Center website (www.stnicholascenter.org). I made it a few years ago and they were amazing. Everyone asks me to make them again now. We’ll be making them this coming week, actually, in preparation for St. Nicholas Day next weekend.

Oh, and shortening always means something like crisco. Not butter. You can use butter but you have to do the little equation:

1 c. butter = 1 c. crisco + 2 TBS water.

I just use Crisco.

**

Speculatius

(German Spice Cookies)
Here is a recipe for a traditional Nicholas cookie that comes out of the Rhineland. The cookie is called “Speculatius” which means “image.” In Europe, the “image” is the mirror-image of a Nicholas which had been pressed into a wooden mold and then turned out on a sheet to bake in the oven. As we don’t have these molds, we roll out dough and use a cardboard pattern (about 7-inches tall) of a gingerbread bishop to cut around for the basic shape and everyone further decorates it as the imagination dictates.
The St Nicholas Center Shop has St Nicholas cookie cutters
Mix in order:

stnicholascenter.org/stnic/images/speculatius.jpg
1 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs whole
¾ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons nutmeg
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons cloves
Turn out onto a floured board. Knead in about one cup additional flour or as much as you need until dough is no longer sticky and is easy to handle.
Put into a plastic bag and refrigerate until chilled and stiff. Then you are ready to roll out and cut the cookies. Cut off a manageable piece and keep the rest cool until you are ready for more.
stnicholascenter.org/stnic/images/austria5.jpg
Austrian Cookie
St Nicholas Center Collection For many little cut-out shapes, roll out the dough thinly. Thin cookies are tastiest.
For the larger, decorated St. Nicholas cookies, roll the dough to about ¼ inch thickness. Cut out cookie around paper pattern. Place on greased baking sheet.Then get inspired. Use scrappy bits of dough to decorate your Nicholas. For a beard press a little dough through a sieve or a garlic press. Use little balls of dough for eyes or buttons.
The same dough lends itself to all sorts of shapes and symbols and is useful for making “St. Nicholas awards” to certain people on this special occasion.
Bake at 350º F. until golden-brown. These keep forever in tins in the freezer or for two–three weeks on the shelf.
**

 

[babesinarms]

Kristacecilia,
My girl, YOU are a gem!! This looks like all the kind of ingredients I like to use! One ingredient is missing that I usually use, and that’s golden syrup or something similar - I imagine that’s what the eggs are for? Mmm, interesting! Also, sorry to ask, but what is Crisco? It’s obviously something you use over there that we don’t have here. Great to know about the butter, tho! (always knew that wasn’t quite right). Would this be firm enough dough, once cooked, to use for building a house though?

Great idea about the St.Nick day celebs. My dh’s LARGE extended family always celebrate on this day - so this might just be the thing to bring for the kids (well, some anyway - 33 grandchildren and about 25 great grandchildren - might make them for prizes for the sack races etc., we’ll be having). Both our parents are European, so know ‘spekulaas’ well - dh’s mum and sister have these wooden moulds for these biscuits but don’t cook them often.
Oh, this is great - you are getting me enthused already!!!
Thanks heaps!!!:egyptian:

 

[kristacecilia]

Crisco is vegetable shortening. It’s white, soft but maintains a definite shape, and is made from vegetable oils.

crisco.com/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortening

If I remember right this would be good for houses as long as the walls are not too big. It is firm, but can get soft in the middle of the cookie. Maybe you should try it first for St. Nick’s day and if it’s not what you’re looking for in terms of durability for a house, another recipe might be better.

 

[puzzleannie]

used to do this every year
my favorite way, esp. when kids are “helping” is to use graham crackers
but if you do the recipe above you also might try baking square or oblong shapes, about graham cracker size, and build your house of the bricks, because a big piece tends to be too soft in the middle, or to crack. the key to welding everything together is royal frosting, the kind that hardens, but I never can get it right.

I have a picture when DD#3 is abutt 5, and the house is about 2’ x 3’, real cute, but what a job (also just about inedible, Hansel and Gretal must really have been starving).

 

[johnpoll]

Hi babesinarms,
It’s new for me so i am very excited about ginger bred recipe plese give me your recipe.I will try it at my home.