Every year on the 6th of December, since I am a child, I enjoy this family tradition. Saint Nicolas, protectors of children, visit houses and reward well behaved girls and boys. It is cold and dark (in France). We - the children - are all excited about his coming but also a bit anxious that we may receive the visit of the Pere Fouettard - a nasty, scary, smelly guy who correct naughty children and may eventually take them in his bag. So this night, we would stay with our family sharing treats in a very special atmosphere: hot chocolate, ginger bread (i.e., pain d'epices in French), mandarin, walnuts and other treats. The little man, called Mannele in Alsatian, are made of brioche (a sort of a sweet bread) - these are also part of the tradition; I will write another post with this recipe - in the meantime, you could use my recipe for soft milk buns - here.
This is the recipe of a tasty-licious ginger bread that is originally coated in chocolate or cover with royal icing, on the top of what we put a picture of the majestic Saint Nicolas (see the picture). In order to involve No. 1, this year, we also used a ginger man cookie cutter. We made them for his daycare Christmas family party and especially for Santa.
At least, you can't say that you have not got time to practice this easy recipe for next year Saint Nicolas.
Ingredients
- 125 g crystallised lemon* (or glacé peel mix)
- 125 g crystallised orange*
- 500 g honey
- 500 g flour
- 150 g soften raw sugar
- 10 cl kirsch (optional)
- 125 g ground almonds
- 1 egg
- 20 g butter, melted
- 15 g ground cinnamon
- 5 g ground ginger
- 5 g anise powder (or fennel)
- 2 g glove powder
- 2 g cardamom powder
- 2 g nutmeg powder
- 15 g baking powder
Royal icing:
- 2 white eggs
- 300 g icing sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
- 30 ml kirsch (optional)
Instructions (require 12 hours rest)
1. Chop the lemon and orange glacé (crystallised) peels very finely.
2. Heat the honey on low heat and add the crystallised lemon and orange, then the butter.
3. In the meantime, mix together all the dray ingredients.
4. Pour the honey preparation into the dry ingredient and mix.
5. Add the egg and mix. The mixture is sticky and needs to be rested in the fridge over night (12 hours).
6. In the morning, take the dough out of the fridge and let get to room temperature, or mix between your hands to warm the dough and make it softer so you can roll it and mould it.
7. You can either roll it 7 mm thick and use a cookie cutter (like a gingerman or any other Christmas shapes) - but originally, from my childhood, no need for cookie cutter: roll a small portion of dough to make a small sausage, then flatten it either with you hand or a roll. The shape is a sort of an oblong. The size can vary according to your taste, I now make small ones as it is more appropriate for the kids. This makes about 45 small biscuits.
8. Cook in the oven, fan bake, at 150C for 25 mins.*
9. Rest of a rack.
10. Royal icing - Mix together the white egg and the icing sugar* and spread over the biscuit. When the icing is almost dry, stick the Saint Nicolas picture. Be careful and warn people that the picture is not edible.
Good to know...
* I usually put only 125 g of a mix of glacé citrus peel.
* 20 mins are usually enough for me - you don't want to overcook it otherwise it gets very dry. I prefer mine a bit soft inside so they are not hard when I take them out of the oven.
* You can add a bit of edible colouring if you want to make fancy decoration, I prefer to go for the classic traditional way.
Store them in an air-tight container (like metal cookie box) for a week or more. They keep very well.
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