Custard gingerbread

8 servings

40 minutes

The origins of Russian gingerbread are often traced back to prosphora, church bread. Perhaps this is just a legend, but it is known for sure that mainly Old Believers worked in gingerbread cooperatives, and the most famous gingerbread was from wealthy merchant cities: Pokrov, Tula, Arkhangelsk, Vyatka. Each city had its own recipe: sour gingerbread, unleavened gingerbread, gingerbread aged in the cold, molded, beaten. Most of the tricks were lost, and in Soviet times a certain average recipe for custard gingerbread was developed .

Energy value per serving

• Calories: 381.5
• Proteins: 7.5g
• Fats: 7.6g
• Carbohydrates: 73.3g

Ingredients

• Honey: 100 g
• Sugar: 45 g
• Butter: 50 g
• Soda: 0.5 tsp
• Wheat flour: 400 g
• Chicken egg: 2 pc
• Water: 50 ml
• Egg white: 1 pc
• Powdered sugar: 150 g
• Lemon juice: 1 tsp
• Carnation: 3 pc
• Cardamom: 4 pc
• Ground cinnamon: 0.3 tsp
• Ground ginger: 0.3 tsp
• Nutmeg: pinch

Cooking steps

1. Extract seeds from cardamom, place in a mortar, add cloves and crush (or grind in a coffee grinder). Add ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and mix.

   Required ingredients:

   • Cardamom: 4 pieces
   • Carnation: 3 pieces
   • Ground cinnamon: 0.3 teaspoon
   • Ground ginger: 0.3 teaspoon
   • Nutmeg:  pinch

2. Prepare the dough. Combine honey, sugar, and butter in a pot, place it in a water bath, and stir until melted. It should form a homogeneous mixture.

   Required ingredients:

   • Honey: 100 g
   • Sugar: 45 g
   • Butter: 50 g

3. Remove the honey mixture from heat, add baking soda, 1 teaspoon of spice mix, and stir.

   Required ingredients:

   • Soda: 0.5 teaspoon
   • Ground cinnamon: 0.3 teaspoon

4. Sift the flour into the mixer bowl. Pour the hot honey mixture into the flour and mix well to avoid lumps. Let it cool.

   Required ingredients:

   • Wheat flour: 400 g

5. When the mixture cools to room temperature, gradually mix in the eggs one by one.

   Required ingredients:

   • Chicken egg: 2 pieces

6. Gradually pour water into the dough while constantly kneading it. As a result, the dough should be soft, pull away from the hands, but not spread.

   Required ingredients:

   • Water: 50 ml

7. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1 cm. Cut out circles (about 5 cm in diameter) with a glass and place them on a parchment-lined and greased baking sheet.

8. Bake the gingerbread in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes.

9. Prepare the glaze. Pour the egg white into a bowl or mixer bowl and gradually mix in the sifted powdered sugar. Then stir in the lemon juice.

   Required ingredients:

   • Egg white: 1 piece
   • Powdered sugar: 150 g
   • Lemon juice: 1 teaspoon

10. Take the cookies out of the oven, let them cool for 2-3 minutes, and place them in a bowl with icing. Mix to coat the cookies with icing.

11. Transfer the gingerbread to a rack and cool completely for 1-2 hours.