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Holly Jolly Gingerbread
What would the holidays be without gingerbread? What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say gingerbread? House or man? I always think of gingerbread houses despite the charming fairy tale about the runaway cookie.
Origins
Gingerbread is believed to have come to Europe with Armenian monk, Gregory of Nicopolis, in 992 when he moved to Bondaroy, France. The ginger root was unfamiliar to Europeans at the time but was one of the many spices trickling to the west in the treasuries of crusader knights.
Over the years, ginger became more accessible and gingerbread enjoyed a more widespread availability. Starting as a simple coating for Eucharist wafers, it blossomed into a commodity controlled by guilds, enjoyed by royalty and eventually into a variety of regional specialties enjoyed by all.
In The House
It’s almost impossible to say gingerbread without wanting to continue on and say house. Well, at least for me it is. Gingerbread houses can be simple or as complex as your imagination combined with your artistic skill will permit.
There are a variety of techniques for decorating your gingerbread houses. Some people rely entirely on icing to make their houses realistic. Others use a variety of candies, nuts and snack foods to create shingles on the roof, door knobs, windows and all the other features that make the house magically realistic.
Honestly, it’s always a hard call on whether or not to eat a gingerbread house. Some of them are decorated so perfectly that it’s really difficult to bring yourself to destroy such a work of art. Besides, look where it got Hansel and Gretel! On the other hand, it’s edible art so you need to eat it sooner or later. Nobody likes a stale cookie, so don’t wait too long to demolish that beautiful house!
Soft or Firm
While you might want to hold on to your immaculately constructed and decorated gingerbread house until everybody has had a chance to ooh and ahh over it, a lot of gingerbread treats can be baked for immediate consumption.
There are the ever-popular gingerbread men. These charming little characters can be decorated with icing, raisins, nuts, candied fruits or whatever you think will make the little guys look awesome.
There are a variety of regional specialty gingerbreads that range from ultra-soft to ultra-hard. Some people also like to create gingerbread man ornaments out of Permanent Gingerbread. However, that’s not really even gingerbread. It just looks enough like it to serve as “gingerbread” decorations.
I’m not going to lie. I love, love, love gingerbread cake served up with a dollop of whipped cream on top. It is so soft and flavorful. I don’t have to worry about hogging it all up myself, though. My Father-In-Law loves gingerbread cake as well.
On the other hand, who can really turn down a tasty little army of gingerbread men? The recipe can be tweaked to produce a moderately soft cut-out gingerbread cookie or one with a delightful snap. The harder the cookie, the more satisfying the dunk. Who doesn’t LOVE dunking ginger snaps or what my Great Grandmother referred to as Russian Tea Cookies (apparently they’re not because all of the recipes I find under that name look more like a pfeffernusse than what I remember) in a hot cup of cocoa, tea or coffee?
I found you some more wonderful gingerbread recipes that you might enjoy this holiday season or any time of year for that matter. As much as gingerbread is largely associated with Christmastime, ginger has marvelous medicinal properties that can be enjoyed all year round. Ginger root, the eponymous ingredient of gingerbread, contains gingerol that is very helpful in alleviating the symptoms of morning sickness. Taking the edge off of morning sickness? That’s a treat any time of the year!