Yesterday was a good day for staying in and baking some Christmas gingerbread biscuits! (I'd prepared the dough in my food processor the day before.)
Do you bake these for Christmas? My recipe is one I came up with back in my youth, I think it was a mix between my mum's recipe and one from my first cookery book. Mum used to have ginger, cinnamon and clove in hers. In mine, I also have cardamom. (I love cardamom...)
There have been years in my life when I've not felt up to this kind of baking because of problems with neck-shoulder-arm. I'm happy I've been able to pick up the tradition again in more recent years. I've adjusted my recipe to only a third of the original, though. (In the past, I also used to have more friends over to share the
calories...)
13 comments:
They are beautiful,and each one is perfect!! Where will they be going? If I lived there, I would be doing some begging...
Ginny, they'll probably just be mysteriously disappearing one by one, and leaving me trying to look innocent and wondering what's wrong with my bathroom scale!
What beautiful cookies...and even perhaps reindeer? Maybe in the first pic on the far left? They aren't as fluffy as the ones I used to make, which were more a vanilla cookie and probably had some baking soda in them. I gave all my cookie cutters away years ago, I wonder who to... Good for you to be so creative! Enjoy!
Thanks Barbara. There are no reindeer among my cookie cutters, but there are billy-goats and horses :) A Christmas goat preceded the Santa tradition in Sweden. The horse-shaped cutter I bought (long ago) on a holiday in the province of Dalarna (Dalecarlia), famous for their decorative toy/ ornamental wooden horses. There is a well-known old Swedish Christmas song that involves horses; and in the past people used to travel to church in horse-drawn sleighs on snowy Christmas mornings. The idea of Santa's reindeer I think comes from America, and I don't think I've actually ever seen a gingerbread reindeer!
not sure what cardomon is , but i do love gingerbread and now i am off to see if there is a decent ginger bread gluten free recipe
Sandra, Hope you'll find a good one! :) Mine, I'm afraid, have both wheat flour and sugar (white, brown and treacle)...
They look lovely and I'm sure would make much appreciated small gifts for people who "have everything". I also imagine your flat smelled wonderfully of baking, and it was certainly a great way of spending a day that did not offer itself for a walk.
You know how much I like Dalarna horses - the felt pin you sent me a couple of years ago is part of my Christmas decoration, it usually sits on the very narrow lintel next to my bathroom mirror.
Lucia Pepparkakor!
I have a very old and much-thumbed Scandinavian cookery book with the recipe. I haven't made any myself but was treated to them with coffee many times when visiting people in Sweden, and Swedish friends in the UK. When my husband went to Sweden on business, around Christmas time, he always made sure he brought several packets home with him - they made special gifts.
I still have my Dalarna horse, given to me years ago - it's looking down at me from the bookshelves beside the computer! Not long ago there was an item on TV showing how the horses were made, and I was surprised to see that they are all still hand painted.
PS: I found your Christmas card in my mail box today - thank you!!
I'm not really a fan of gingerbread but they are good to dunk into a cup of tea, I've been making mostly shortbread and trifles here.
Meike, the smell from baking gingerbread is as much part of the whole experience as eating them... :) Glad the Christmas card arrived!
CG, I have a wooden 'Dalahäst' looking down on me from a bookshelf in my study as well :) I've had that one since my childhood.
Amy, I usually dunk mine in a cup of tea as well! (I'm one of those rare Swedish people who never drink coffee, but love tea.)
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