Have you ever tried Gingerbread Man (must from New York, with a scarf;))made with real fresh ginger zest?!!! a MUST HAVE!!!
Before I proceed, let's see the short history of Gingerbread (from wikipedia):
Gingerbread dates back to the 15th century, and figural biscuit-making was practiced in the 16th century.[1] The first documented instance of figure-shaped gingerbread biscuits appearing was in the court of Elizabeth I of England. She had the gingerbread figures made and presented in the likeness of some of her important guests.[
I only love few holiday cookies, Gingerbread cookie is one of my favorite ones. I found many Gingerbread men recipes in my cooking books I bought over the years. All these Christmas Gingerbread recipes require use ground ginger, instead of real fresh ginger. I was trigued-why nobody use the fresh ginger? In the book Joy of Cooking, it mentioned that the fresh ginger has a lot of juice and it's hard to control the moisture of the cookie when fresh ginger used.
Ground ginger is fine, but I wanted to try how the Gingerbread men tastes if made with fresh ginger? Honestly I tested few times. The first time, the dough was too soft to use cookie cutters. Second time I made it too thick!! It looked like Gingerbread Santa;)))...Third time is the charm!!! I made a bunch and shared them with my friends at a local Toastmaster club. Everybody loved it!!
sexy Gingerbread teddy bear;))
Benefits:
Ginger tea, as I mentioned in my previous post, is the best herb to fight against colds!!
In addition, low salt, low calories!! No sugar added-Stevia!!
Tea pairing-you can pair it with green tea or black tea!
Ingredients
A
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp Stevia powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp shredded coconut (dry)
B
1.5 oz molass
1 tbsp Greek yogurt
2 tbsp freshly grated Ginger zest
3 tbsp unsalted butter (room temp)
1 egg white
Instructions:
1. Use a grater to make 2 tbsp of ginger zest, with juice.
2. Mix ingredients A evenly
3. mix ingredients B. I use my hands to mix them well;))) I call it "food massage"!!Do not have to be perfect!
4. Mix ingredients A & B together. Give a few minutes to knead the dough. Show me your muscles!!! This is a good time to do your home exercise, in the kitchen while enjoying cooking!!!
5. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and put in the frige for at least 2 hours.
6. Roll out the dough with a thickness of 1/8 inches. One tip: When I roll the dough, I keep the plastic wrap on. I like a little bit crispy gingerbread men;)) Use Gingerbread men cookie cutter to cut out the cookies.
7. Preheat the oven 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Make sure each cookie is 1 inch apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Yummy gingerbread Christmas tree
When you take a bite, you can feel the ginger zest! That's what I meant real Gingerbread Men!!! Coconut shreds definitely add a lot of texture and aroma to the cookies
If you desire, you can make some icing, but for me, this is perfect!! As you can see,
Isn't this the best gift for Christmas-Homemade Gingerbread cookies!!! What are your favorite Gingerbread Men recipes?
No comments:
Post a Comment