Icing for cookies made from egg white and sugar. Sugar icing for gingerbread cookies. Cookie icing

During the New Year and Christmas holidays, a special atmosphere reigns: dreams come true, fairy-tale characters come to life, stars descend from the sky, and nothing is impossible that the inhabitants of the Earth wish for. Grievances are forgotten, enemies are forgiven, relationships are established - and in every home, family members gather around a cozy hearth to express their endless love for each other. And this warm and magical atmosphere is very successfully complemented delicious treats eg gingerbread cookies.

Once upon a time, in the 11th century, a monk, who decided to prepare a treat for his brothers in faith, thought about it and instead of flour added ginger to the cookie dough. The monks liked the treat so much that its preparation became a good tradition in the monastery. Now this recipe is known in every home. Cinnamon and cocoa are added to the dough, so the figures have a pleasant golden color. Be sure to make glaze for gingerbread cookies– she turns Christmas trees, houses, deer, snowflakes and bunnies into real masterpieces of art. If you add colored powder, edible beads or dragees to the white pictures, the treat looks so elegant that you can safely hang the figures on the New Year tree.

Modern traditions

Prepare gingerbread cookies with frosting not only for New Year and Christmas, but also on any other day. Children really like it, because each figure turns out three-dimensional and looks as if it were alive. You can use the recipe for gingerbread cookies with glaze, replacing some components with others, but the constant component of this wonderful delicacy was and remains ginger. Grate fresh ginger on a fine grater or buy a ground product (the first option is much preferable). Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves - if you have any of these additives in the house, feel free to add them to the dough.

Other modern gingerbread cookie traditions include different ways preparations. The basic recipe calls for adding water, but add milk instead and the snow-white foam will have a delicate creamy flavor.

If someone in your family is allergic to eggs, remove the whites and make a glaze using powdered sugar, lemon juice and water. These variations are endless, just like the different decorations for the finished cookies. If, for example, you add a new element (butterflies or flowers made from icing) to the “composition” of multi-colored New Year’s cookies decorated with snow-white icing, then the household will clap their hands with delight.

How to make gingerbread cookies?

• To prepare cookies with ginger, prepare a set of products:
• butter – half a small pack (150 g);
• white flour - 2 cups (be sure to sift);
• chicken egg – 1 pc.;
• sugar – 0.5 cups;
• baking powder - 1 tbsp. l (maybe a little less);
• cinnamon, nutmeg - to taste;

grated ginger – 3 tsp.

Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Beat the egg and sugar. Remove the butter from the refrigerator in advance to soften it. Combine liquid and dry ingredients. Place the cooler in the bag. When the dough hardens, remove half. Roll out the dough - its thickness should be approximately 0.5-1 cm. Do everything very quickly, otherwise the dough will “float”. Cut out the figures, take a baking sheet and place them at a distance of 2 cm from each other. Remove the rest of the dough from the plastic bag and repeat the steps. Or bake the first batch of cookies first, and then repeat the manipulations with the remaining raw dough

. Once the cookies “set” with a brown crust around the edges, the cookies are ready. Prepare the glaze that will be used for filling or painting.

The incomparable advantage of ginger baked goods is the ability to store them for a long time. Place the cookies in a cool place (ideally in the refrigerator) and they will retain their flavor for up to 2 weeks. You can take it out at any time and treat it to relatives or visiting guests. If the glaze has hardened for a long enough time (at least 12 hours), then the painted drawings and patterns will retain their original appearance until the moment when people dear to your heart sit down at the table.

If you want the glaze to be thicker, increase the amount of powdered sugar. To make it thinner, increase the volume of water. Properly prepared glaze “sets,” first turning into a viscous mass and then hardening. For gingerbread figurines, the best decorations are those that will not peel off from the cookies, but stick well to the entire surface. Since the texture of the dough is crumbly and delicate, the glaze from which the patterns are made should also be light, airy, melting in your mouth. Before decorating gingerbread cookies, think about the preferences of your loved ones. Consider not only the wishes of relatives, but also their health status.

Can they eat sugar, lemon juice, and proteins? Based on this, choose a suitable icing recipe for gingerbread cookies - there are so many of them that there will certainly be the best one, which you will use from now on constantly to decorate baked goods. Cook incredible delicious glaze, which you can use to color not only gingerbread cookies, but also any other baked goods:

• from powdered sugar, proteins and lemon juice(this recipe is basic for icing, which can also be used to color treats);
• from powder and citric acid (without proteins) - cooked over fire;
• made from milk, powdered sugar and sugar syrup.

If making white icing alone seems boring to you, involve the children in it, and then the process of decorating figurines will turn into an exciting culinary adventure for all family members. How to make colored glaze? Prepare several cups and when liquid glaze When ready, pour it into cups in equal parts. Add different portions of the protein mixture food colorings. Decorating baked goods with colorful mixtures is a pleasure.

Buy several pastry bags in advance. Fill them half or third full with different colors of frosting. Trim the ends of the bags with scissors. Gently squeeze this glaze onto the shortbread dough figures, forming patterns. Children will be delighted to transform faceless pieces of dough into their favorite fairy-tale characters with their own hands!

Video of making glaze for gingerbread cookies

Ingredients

Some gingerbread cookie frosting recipes call for all ingredients to be combined and whipped at once. It is not right. Protein and powdered sugar to make it stable protein foam, you need to be “saturated” with oxygen. Therefore, the ingredients are added one by one.

Lastly come the dyes. Prepare foods:

• powdered sugar – 1 cup;
• chicken egg white – 1 piece (choose a larger egg);
• citrus juice – 1 tbsp. (orange or lemon);
• water – 2 tbsp.

Powdered sugar and protein are the basis from which a fluffy foam is formed. And lemon juice fixes it and gives the glaze a characteristic sourness. If you don’t have powdered sugar, then replace it with sugar, but then it’s better to make it out of it first sugar syrup(boil water with sugar and stir until it dissolves and the liquid becomes a thick consistency).

To make a sugar coating for eggless gingerbread cookies, you can add:

• milk – 4 tbsp;
• sugar – 4 tbsp. l.;
• grated chocolate or cocoa – 2 tbsp;
• piece butter weighing 50 g.

Fast cooking process

Knowing the basic recipe for how to make glaze, you can change it as desired. Add milk instead of water or add a pinch of vanilla to the protein mixture - the taste of the glaze will instantly change. Egg-free recipes are chosen by people who cannot eat chicken eggs, and egg treats are not available to them due to illness or a vegetarian diet. Apply the glaze to the gingerbread cookies very quickly, because it hardens instantly, and after it is applied, do not touch the figures for several hours. Prepare the icing for the cookies, taking your time (icing doesn’t like to be rushed) and following the exact sequence of steps:

• beat the egg whites with a fork or whisk (if you have a mixer or blender, use them);
• add pre-sifted powdered sugar add small portions to the whites, continuing to beat the mixture;
• add water and lemon juice without stopping the stirring process.

Chocolate glaze It's also very easy to prepare. Heat milk and sugar, add cocoa or chopped chocolate, mix with butter. You will get a tasty and beautiful coating for cookies. This dessert is very often used by chefs for... different types baking. Take the mixture with a spoon and spread it in small portions over the surface of the product. It is better to prepare the glaze for gingerbread cookies and spread it several hours before guests arrive. You should have a thin, shiny brown crust.

Cooking is unthinkable without ginger, and although it is not required for other baking, its spicy, “warm” taste turns ordinary tea drinking into a feast for the soul. A special, trusting atmosphere is created in which people feel needed and loved. Perhaps at this time their dreams are already being made reality by a heavenly magician.

Most often, housewives start making gingerbread shortly before the New Year's celebrations. Such pastries can become not only a decoration for the holiday table, but also an excellent gift option for friends and family. To make the sweets also beautiful, you should take care of the gingerbread glaze.

The resulting mass will allow you to paint real masterpieces on your own prepared dessert. Ingredients: 260 g of powdered sugar, any food coloring, the white of one egg.

1. The powder is sifted through the finest sieve or cheesecloth. There should be no lumps in it.
2. Protein is added to the sweet mass. The ingredients are mixed until smooth. You will get a thick glaze.
3. You can immediately draw on gingerbread cookies with it.

If desired, the resulting mass is divided into parts, each of which is painted a certain color. This way, you will be able to make bright color drawings.

White fondant for gingerbread baking

Traditionally gingerbread decorated with snow-white curls and patterns. To create them, a special fondant is prepared. Ingredients: 15 g tangerine zest, 2 raw eggs (chicken), 280 g granulated sugar.

1. The whites are carefully separated from the eggs. Not a drop of protein should get into them.
2. Sugar is turned into powder using a coffee grinder. Next, the mass is sifted through thin gauze.
3. The resulting powder mixes well with the whites.
4. Crushed powder is mixed into the foam. The ingredients are mixed well again.

To make beautiful and neat gingerbread cookies with glaze, you need to use a pastry bag with the thinnest tip for decoration.

Color mixture for decoration

This recipe includes only natural products. Therefore, even kids can try the resulting treat. Ingredients: 2 large spoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 2 egg whites chicken eggs, 210 g of powdered sugar, a large spoonful of vegetable juices: beetroot, carrot, spinach.

1. The powder must be sifted. It is worth taking the smallest sieve for this.
2. Lemon juice is added to the sugar mixture. Use a whisk to beat the mixture well.
3. The future glaze is divided into three equal parts. Each of them in a separate bowl is colored with the juice of the selected vegetable.

The colored mass must be kneaded until smooth, until even the smallest lumps disappear.

Protein glaze

In order for the product to have a uniform consistency, lemon juice must be added drop by drop and do not stop stirring. Ingredients: 10 ml citrus juice

1. , 230 g of powdered sugar, the white of one egg.
2. The ingredients are mixed with a whisk. Gradually powder is added to them.
3. The process of active kneading continues until the glaze hangs from the whisk in a thick drop.

You can paint gingerbread cookies with this fondant right away.

How to cook with lemon?

The lemon version of the mixture is suitable for decoration various baked goods- Easter cakes, gingerbreads, cupcakes. Ingredients: 2 large spoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 3 spoons of powdered sugar, half a stick of high-quality butter.

1. Liquid butter is combined with powder. The products are well ground until smooth.
2. Fruit juice is added to the resulting mass.
3. The components are ground again.

Instead of fresh juice you can take it citric acid. ½ small spoons of the product are diluted with 50 ml of water.

Chocolate cocoa glaze

This composition is ideal for both hot and cooled sweets. Ingredients: 25 g potato starch, 90 g of powdered sugar, 3 large spoons of cocoa powder and the same amount of drinking water.

1. The powder must first be thoroughly sifted. If you don't take care of this preparation, the icing will end up with sloppy, unappetizing lumps. They will greatly spoil the appearance of the sweets.
2. For sifting, the finest sieve is selected, through which the powder is passed at least 2 times.
3. The sugar product is combined with the remaining bulk ingredients - cocoa and potato starch.
4. Next, water is added to the mixture. It is very important to use ice water. It is advisable to first keep it in the freezer for a few minutes.
5. After adding water, all components are intensively ground. The process continues until the glaze is homogeneous.

A properly prepared mass should turn out shiny and glossy. You can apply it to gingerbread cookies right away. It must be remembered that chocolate glaze hardens a little longer than, for example, protein glaze.

With added rum

Of course, sweets with such fudge should be given exclusively to adults. Alcohol gives the glaze a special flavor. Rum can be used both light and dark. Ingredients: 25 ml alcoholic drink, 230 ml filtered boiled water, 260 g powdered sugar. How to make icing for gingerbread with rum is described in detail below.

1. Water is poured into a small saucepan or ladle and brought to a boil again.
2. While the liquid is heating up, you need to sift the powdered sugar well through the finest sieve. Next, freshly boiled water is poured into it. The components are thoroughly and intensively mixed.
3. When the resulting mixture has cooled a little, cold rum is poured into it.
4. You need to continue mixing the ingredients until smooth.

When the fondant has completely cooled, you can decorate the finished gingerbread cookies with it, drawing original patterns. The glaze discussed will help you complete even the most complex designs.

Recipe without eggs

This Lenten glaze is most often used by housewives to decorate children's sweets. It is also called vegetarian. For a more pleasant appetizing aroma, you can add vanilla concentrate to this fudge. Ingredients: 280 g of powdered sugar, 4 large spoons of filtered water, 4 small. spoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

1. The powder is sifted through a fine-mesh sieve into a wide bowl.
2. TO sugar product citrus juice is poured in. You need to add it drop by drop, rubbing the components after each portion.
3. Water is poured into the future glaze. The liquid should be warm.
4. After the next kneading, the icing drips onto the plate. If the product does not spread, it means it is completely ready for baking.

We must not forget that the glaze hardens very quickly without adding eggs. It is best to distribute it over products that have already hardened slightly.

Icing

This coating option should be chosen for large, “plump” gingerbread cookies. It will flow beautifully over the products, hardening into large, appetizing drops. Ingredients: 1 tbsp. white granulated sugar, half a glass of purified water.

1. Water is heated in an iron pot. And sand (sugar) pours out.
2. The mass is cooked until the sweet grains are completely dissolved and large bubbles appear on the surface.
3. The mixture is removed from the heat and left to cool. In already finished product You can add any flavoring. For example, almond works well.

Small gingerbreads are dipped entirely into the glaze (using a slotted spoon), and large ones are decorated using a silicone brush.

Ordinary cookies differ from baked goods that you want to admire by their decorative design, which consists of glossy glaze and painting on it. There is a whole industry of painting confectionery masterpieces: products are masterfully painted and sold at high prices. You can make a bright coating for cookies at home.

How to decorate cookies

To surprise your family and guests, create a festive mood, try yourself in a new creative role, try baking and decorating cookies. Ideal for artistic painting would be a large product made from shortcrust pastry that has at least one flat and relatively even side. Cover the top surface of the cookie or gingerbread with white, colored, chocolate icing, creating a delicious glossy layer that is beautiful both on its own and as a background for a design.

Glaze at home

Mom can do real miracles. For dear kids and those with a sweet tooth, cute and cheerful New Year's cookies will be a great surprise for the holiday. For Halloween, scary motifs are suitable, and the icing is black and chocolate. For Valentine's Day romantic dinner Decorate with bright heart-shaped cookies or gingerbreads. Learning how to make glaze at home is not at all difficult; for this you need simple products, a little food coloring, a burning desire and pre-holiday mood.

Gingerbread cookies

Products that give joy and fun are simple: flour, butter, honey, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and other spices. To make gingerbread cookies with glaze, knead and roll out the dough, using cutters to cut out funny shapes. One of the recipes for making glaze will help make your cookies original and unique. Color them with your children using snow-white egg icing. Add bright food coloring to the mixture to make the figures come to life. A chocolate bar can be cooked into a glossy finish ranging from milky white to dark brown, almost black.

New Year's gingerbread

Coloring Christmas gingerbread cookies is becoming a good tradition for many families. An evening spent with loved ones will be remembered for a long time. Fill it with creativity, fun, sweets, don’t forget your camera to preserve emotions, mood and results, which are eaten very quickly. New Year's cookies with icing, gingerbread, cupcakes are painted egg mixture, and are covered with sugar. Possible heat treatment already completed products. It not only speeds up the drying process, but also eliminates the risk of contracting intestinal infections when using raw eggs.

Recipes

Options for making glaze mass for decorating baked goods can be divided into three groups: sugar, sugar-egg and chocolate. A beautiful glossy surface is guaranteed by a glaze recipe made from eggs and powdered sugar, whipped into a stable foam. To change the color, food coloring is added to it. Icing used for meatless or vegan confectionery. Chocolate lovers will love this recipe for cocoa frosting and melted bars. This coating serves as a wonderful backdrop for sugar icing - a mixture for creating three-dimensional designs.

Sugar

• Preparation time: 15-20 minutes (excluding drying time).
• Number of servings: for 15-20 pieces.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty: easy.

Iced cookies, especially those made at home, are always popular. Those who don’t know will not believe how simple the technology for its production is. Classic sugar icing for cookies is made from powdered sugar, which is diluted to a paste with milk or cream. The oil included in the mixture makes the coating softer, more elastic, but does not prevent drying.

Ingredients:

• powdered sugar – 1 cup;
• milk – 1 tbsp. l.;
• butter – 2 tsp;
• vanillin - on the tip of a knife;
• salt - a pinch.

Cooking method:

1. Melt a piece of butter in a saucepan over low heat, add milk and salt.
2. Add powdered sugar little by little and mix with the liquid until it forms a paste. Add vanillin to the finished mixture.
3. Adjust the consistency of the mass: add powder to make it thicker, milk to thin it.
4. Allow them to cool before decorating the figures with glaze.

Colored

• Number of servings: for 15-20 cookies.
• Calorie content of the dish: 292 kcal per (100 g).
• Purpose: decor, baking design.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty: easy.

Gingerbread houses, gingerbread men, and sand figures can be “revitalized” by painting them in bright colors. Colored glaze for cookies, made at home, will lie on baked goods and harden no worse than a professional one. Food colors, natural or artificial, will give it color. If you prefer natural food, use vegetable juice (carrots, beets, spinach). You can top the glaze with cherry, blueberry or orange juice. Safe food dyes from reliable manufacturers will help you color your cookies.

Ingredients:

• powdered sugar – 1 cup;
• milk – 2 tsp;
• syrup – 2 tsp;
• almond extract 1/4 tsp;
• food dyes.

Cooking method

1. Pour milk into the powder and stir. Add syrup and almond flavoring, beat until the mixture becomes smooth and glossy.
2. Place the mixture in containers and add different colored dyes to each container.
3. Paint the items with a brush or dip them into the finished glaze. The cookies need to be dried well.

White

• Preparation time: 20 minutes (excluding drying time).
• Servings: Approximately 50 cookies.
• Calorie content of the dish: 278 kcal per (100 g).
• Purpose: decor, baking design.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty: easy.

It turns out incredibly tasty white glaze with lemon juice. She complements sweet pastries pleasant sourness. This mass fits well on the surface of the cookies, hardens reliably, and forms an excellent background for further decoration with drawings. If desired, it can also be tinted, but the snow-white shade of the decorative mass is good in itself. To set the mood for the New Year, decorating cookies with lemon juice icing is ideal.

Ingredients:

• powdered sugar – 3 cups;
• butter – 100 g;
• lemon juice – 2 tbsp. l.

Cooking method:

1. Before making the icing on the cookies, melt the butter and add the lemon juice squeezed just before.
2. Add powdered sugar and beat the mixture with a mixer until fluffy, smooth and shiny. Achieve the desired consistency by adding a little juice or powder.
3. To apply the glaze you will need a brush.

Chocolate

• Preparation time: 20 minutes (excluding drying time).
• Servings: approximately 30-40 cookies.
• Calorie content of the dish: 290 kcal per (100 g).
• Purpose: decor, baking design.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty: easy.

Sweet tooths and chocolate lovers will love glazed pastries coated with cocoa-based mass. If you follow the recipe step by step, the chocolate glaze will turn out dense, smooth, and shiny. You can draw white or colored patterns on it, decorate it with coconut crumbs, bright powder, and pieces of marmalade. The chocolate glaze hardens quickly, once you cool the cookies.

Ingredients:

• powdered sugar – 2 cups;
• milk – 4 tbsp. l.;
• cocoa powder – 2 tbsp. l.;
• butter – 1 tbsp. l.;
• vanillin - on the tip of a knife.

Cooking method:

1. Mix softened butter with cocoa and powdered sugar, add vanillin. Mash the mixture with a spoon.
2. Then milk is gradually poured into the mixture and the mixture is whipped.
3. You need to decorate shaped pastries with a brush. Place the glazed figures in freezer for quick hardening.

Protein

• Preparation time: 20 minutes (excluding drying time).
• Servings: Approximately 30 cookies.
• Calorie content of the dish: 281 kcal per (100 g).
• Purpose: decor, baking design.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty: easy.

Chic protein glaze proudly bears the name “Royal”. This mass can be multi-colored if you add a little carrot, cherry, or beet juice to it. However, dazzling white, like fresh snow, is a wonderful shade for painting winter scenes. It is applied using a bag with a corner cut off (make the hole very small). The cream is squeezed out of it in a thin strip. Trace the outline of the figure, fill the middle with the mixture, filling in the gaps with a stick like a toothpick.

Ingredients:

• egg white – 1 pc.;
• powdered sugar – 1.5 cups;
• citric acid – 0.5 g.

Cooking method:

1. The white should be taken from a large egg. Mix it with a mixer until foam appears. Add citric acid to the protein (just a little, no more than 1/2 gram).
2. Powdered sugar is poured into the mixture in parts. You need to mix the egg white with it and beat the mass until a stable, non-falling foam.
3. Apply the design using a syringe or pastry bag.
4. The finished delicacy can be dried in the oven at a temperature of 100 degrees.

Quick drying

• Preparation time: 30-40 minutes (excluding drying time).
• Servings: approximately 15-20 cookies.
• Calorie content of the dish: 288 kcal per (100 g).
• Purpose: decor, baking design.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty: easy.

The bright white, quick-drying glaze is boiled in a water bath. Instead of powder, granulated sugar is used, which, when heated, is drowned in protein. To decorate, you need to take cookies that have already cooled. The mixture is easy to apply to baked goods, dries quickly, and holds well. Ready-made cookies and gingerbread can be transported without special packaging - you will arrive safe and sound.

Ingredients:

• egg white – 1 pc.;
• sugar – 1 glass.

Cooking method:

1. Mix the protein with granulated sugar, beat it, heating it in a water bath for about five minutes.
2. Remove the mixture from the heat and beat the same amount more. Homogeneity of the mass will be a sign of readiness.

No eggs

• Preparation time: 20-30 minutes (excluding drying time).
• Servings: about 20-25 cookies.
• Calorie content of the dish: 341 kcal per (100 g).
• Purpose: decor, baking design.
• Cuisine: Russian.
• Difficulty: easy.

This section will describe original recipe, in which the eggless frosting has a caramel flavor. Unusual color and gives it taste Brown sugar and boiled condensed milk. The coating hardens well, making it convenient to draw three-dimensional pictures on it. If you want to decorate your cookies in an unusual way, this recipe will suit you better than others. After decoration, the cookies can be dried in the oven - the gloss will not be affected.

Ingredients:

• brown sugar – 1/2 cup;
• powdered sugar – 1 cup;
• boiled condensed milk – 2 tbsp. l.;
• milk – 4 tbsp. l.

Cooking method:

1. You need to pour milk, condensed milk into a saucepan, and add sugar. Heat and stir the mixture until smooth. The mixture should come to a boil.
2. Add half the powdered sugar and beat with a mixer.
3. Cool to room temperature, add the rest of the powder, and whisk until you have a glossy glaze. Use a brush to coat the baked goods.

Video

Gingerbread cookies in the form of New Year's figures are a symbol of Christmas in Europe, like the Christmas tree, Christmas cake and Santa Claus. Ginger cookies are traditionally baked by the whole family - this charming tradition, which has come to us from time immemorial, brings relatives closer together and turns Christmas and New Year into the brightest, most comfortable and delicious holidays. I would like to thank the unknown monk who lived in the 11th century, because it was thanks to his absent-mindedness that the classic recipe ginger cookies. While preparing for the monastery's Christmas meal, the monk confused ground ginger with flour, but everyone in the monastery liked the baked goods so much that the recipe spread to other monasteries. Now homemade ginger cookies have turned into a magnificent culinary handmade that decorates festive table for Christmas or New Year. Ginger cookies in the shape of deer, snowflakes, Christmas trees and houses, painted with sugar icing, are a very tasty and heartwarming gift that always evokes joy and warm feelings.

DIY gingerbread cookies for the New Year

The German city of Nuremberg is called the ginger capital of Europe, so many people specifically go there for the best in the world.

To prepare the dough, first mix dry products - flour, soda and spices, and separately grind soft butter with sugar, eggs and honey. After this, the ingredients are combined together and the dough is kneaded until the crumbs stick together into a dense, uniform ball. Properly prepared dough usually does not stick to your hands and has a texture similar to marzipan. Ready dough wrapped in cling film and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. This is necessary so that the butter hardens, because it is easier to cut out figures from a denser dough using gingerbread cookie cutters.

Next, part of the dough is rolled out with a rolling pin on the table, figures are cut out of it, placed on a greased baking sheet at a short distance from each other and baked for 5-15 minutes at a temperature of 180 ° C - the baking time depends on the thickness of the cookies. By the way, the other part of the dough is in the refrigerator at this time, otherwise it will begin to melt. For the same reason, the figures need to be cut out as quickly as possible so that their contours are not blurred. By the time the baking sheet is filled with cookies, the oven should already be preheated. When the cookies have darkened a little around the edges, they are considered ready, but if they are kept in the oven, they will become hard. Properly prepared gingerbread cookies start out soft and then become crispy.

How to decorate gingerbread cookies

A classic decoration is gingerbread cookie frosting, which can be made from 1 egg white, cups powdered sugar, 2 tbsp. l. water and 1 tbsp. l. lemon or orange juice. Beat all ingredients in a mixer or blender until the glaze thickens. You can add more powdered sugar if the mixture is too runny. The thicker the icing, the easier it is to draw patterns on the cookies.

You can make glaze without protein. In this case, for 150 g of powdered sugar, take 1 tbsp. l. water and 1 tsp. citrus juice. Grind the mixture until smooth. When the sugar drop does not spread, but remains in a ball on the saucer, the glaze is considered ready.

The custard glaze is also very tasty. To prepare it, boil 50 ml of water in a saucepan, then reduce the heat and gradually add 300 g of powdered sugar. Stirring the mixture constantly, pour 1 tsp into it. lemon juice and cook for 5 minutes.

You can add food coloring to the glaze, and to apply designs, use a pastry bag or plastic bag with a corner cut off. You just have to draw on the cookies very quickly, because the icing hardens instantly. You can find examples of patterns in photos of gingerbread cookies with icing posted online, or come up with your own version.

Gingerbread cookies decorated with glaze should sit for 10 hours until the glaze completely dries. Now you can pack new Year gifts without worrying that the cookies will stick together. And if you poke holes in the cookies with a cocktail straw before they go in the oven, you can hang the treat on the tree or make a spectacular and delicious garland. New Year is the best time for culinary creativity!

Ginger cookies: recipe step by step

To prepare this delicious cookies according to the classical European recipe you will need the following products.

Ingredients: for the dough: flour - 250 g, butter at room temperature - 70 g, brown sugar - 80 g, egg - 1 pc., cocoa powder - 1 tbsp. l., ground ginger - 1 tsp., fresh grated ginger - 1 tsp., ground cinnamon- 1 tsp, ground cloves - 0.5 tsp, soda - 0.5 tsp; for glaze: powdered sugar - 250 g, egg white big egg- 1 PC. (about 40 g), warm water - 2-3 tbsp. l., lemon juice - 1 tbsp. l., food coloring of any shades, edible beads and snowflakes - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Chop the butter into cubes.

2. Mix butter with sugar and eggs, beat with a mixer for 3 minutes.

3. Add soda, cocoa, spices, ginger and flour to the mixture.

4. Using a mixer, knead the dough.

5. Wrap the dough in cling film and place it in the refrigerator.

6. Roll out half of the dough with a rolling pin on the table, and leave the other half in the refrigerator. The result should be a layer 7 mm thick.

7. Turn on the oven and preheat it to 180°C, cover a baking sheet with baking paper.

8. Cut out shapes with molds and place them on a baking sheet.

9. Bake cookies for 10 minutes.

10. Do the same with the second batch of dough.

11. Mix all the ingredients for the glaze.

12. Beat the mixture with a mixer for 10 minutes. To check readiness, run a knife across the surface of the glaze. If the mark remains for at least 10 seconds, then you can paint with this glaze.

13. Place the glaze in a pastry bag and draw any designs on the cooled cookies.

14. Decorate the frosting with brightly colored food beads, snowflakes or colored sprinkles.

15. Let the cookies stand for 4 hours and serve.

Fragrant gingerbread cookies, smelling of cinnamon, will cheer you up on cold winter evenings, because you don’t have to bake them exclusively for Christmas!

Secrets for making gingerbread cookies

In the process of kneading the dough, sometimes not everything goes according to plan, since ginger dough is very capricious, often crumbles and spreads. But you can safely make your own adjustments. If the crumbs don't come together into a ball, add a little butter; If the dough is too sticky to your hands, stir in a little flour.

You need to learn to feel the dough, despite the fact that the recipe for gingerbread cookies with the photo gives completely different proportions, because the consistency of the dough also depends on the quality of the products.

In pictures in magazines, gingerbread cookies have a beautiful coffee-and-cream hue. To get this color, you need to add a little dark syrup, molasses, burnt sugar or cocoa to the dough. The simplest and most affordable option is cocoa, with which the cookies will acquire a delicious chocolate taste.

The sticky dough can be placed between two sheets of baking paper sprinkled with flour and rolled out to the desired thickness - this way you won’t have to mix excess flour into the dough, the layers won’t stick to the table and will turn out even.

If you want the cookies to be softer and more crumbly, bake them on a greased baking sheet; If you want crispy cookies, use baking paper lightly dusted with flour.

As you decorate, the icing may set in the piping bag. In this case, you need to put it in a cup, dilute it with a small amount of water and grind it well. When preparing the glaze, water is always added drop by drop to achieve the correct consistency.

Recipe for ginger cookies from Yulia Vysotskaya

Shortbread ginger cookies according to Yulia Vysotskaya’s recipe are tender and crumbly. To prepare it, you will need 125 g of pre-softened butter, which must be combined with 50 g of powdered sugar, ¼ tsp. grated ginger and the zest of one orange. Mix all the ingredients well, sift 200 g of flour into the resulting mass in small portions and add 0.5 tsp. sea ​​salt. Knead the dough, roll it out and use molds to make beautiful cookies. Bake it for 10 minutes at 180°C on a baking tray lined with baking paper, and then decorate. However, the cookies are incredibly delicious even without fondant and icing.

Julia Vysotskaya has others interesting recipes— , cooked on maple syrup with cream, and crispy spiced ginger biscuits.

Gingerbread cookies can be different, and it doesn’t matter which recipe you prefer. With the aromas of baking, everything in the house is transformed, and we become closer to the New Year's magic and... to ourselves.

Pour egg white into the bowl of a mixer (combine, blender or just a saucepan), add water, but not all of it - about 50 ml. Just mix with a spoon and leave for 5-8 minutes. Then add a teaspoon of lemon juice and beat. It’s better, of course, to feel sorry for yourself and use a blender, mixer, or food processor. Whisk until the bubbles become small and the mixture increases slightly in volume. I use a mixer and beat with a whisk for about 3-5 minutes.

Now pour in the powdered sugar (as much as you measured) and start mixing (again in the mixer, at low speeds).

If I see that the powder does not mix and remains dry, I can add just a little water (from the remaining 60 ml). In this case, I added 2 teaspoons (add one at a time, mix and watch each time).

The icing should be thick. In America it is called stiff peak, i.e. hard peaks. If you take out the spoon, the mass stretches and then does not settle. This consistency is suitable for storage. If you are not going to use the icing right now, transfer it to a jar and put it in the refrigerator.

And if you want to start decorating gingerbread cookies right now, then move on.

We will need food coloring. I like American gel ones, you can also buy from us, for example, Americolor or Chefmaster (in any online store a la “everything for a confectioner”).

Packages are also needed. You can use regular plastic bags (for breakfast, for freezing, for storage) or order special cooking bags on Aliexpress, they are a little more convenient, but this is not important. Don’t forget the clamps (I haven’t found better ones from IKEA yet).

Another tool that is simply vital is... a regular toothpick! It will help to add color to the glaze, to spread the fill, to correct the oblique outline, and to remove all that is unnecessary.

Before I start drawing, I make simple sketches for myself in a notebook.

I like the white and blue color scheme for New Year's decor. Place some of our thick glaze in a separate small bowl, take some blue dye (at the very tip of a toothpick) and mix. If the color is too dark, you will have to add more white icing. Having achieved the desired shade, “thin” the glaze.

Add water a little at a time (literally a few drops). It is important not to miss the right consistency.

We need two options for each shade: one for the contour so that it does not spread, the second for filling. Icing for contour is similar in consistency to toothpaste (namely paste, not gel). For filling - like sour cream, 10-15% - spreads, but not very quickly.

Many people remember for themselves how the surface of the glaze is completely smoothed out after mixing. I find it convenient to just do it by eye.

First, prepare the icing for the outline, put about a third of it into a bag, and tie it. Add a little more water to the remaining icing, bring it to the consistency of sour cream, also transfer it into a separate bag and tie it. Now the important point. You need to cut a corner. For contour it is very thin - 1-1.5 mm wide, for filling it can be thicker than 2-3 mm.

We carry out similar procedures for each shade of glaze that will be used in the decor.

Now we can decorate our gingerbread cookies. For example, simply apply the outline of a snowflake to a “naked” cookie. Here you need your hand to be “steady” and not shake.

Another option is to make a background fill first (but still apply an outline before doing so so that the fill does not spread beyond the edges). In this case, you will need to let the background dry completely, usually 2-3 hours.

These are the New Year's snowflakes and Christmas balls I made.

In general, “practice bakes perfect”! So go for it!

A simplified version of preparing egg white glaze in the video version of this recipe from chef Elena Stradze in the culinary program “At ease.”

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