Gingerbread Man Joy

Run, Run As Fast As You Can….

Time to Catch the Gingerbread Man

Gazing over the edge of the counter at my mother’s friend’s home, I could barely reach my arms up enough to break off pieces of a large brown cookie that was spicy and soft. I had no idea what it was, had never had it before and was not even sure if I liked it that much. The icing edges were yummy though as a food centric child, anything that even smelled like sugar was good to me. Reaching up again, intent on snatching a bite to confirm if I liked this “cookie”…

“Do you want some more of that Gingerbread man?”

Whirling around as I had been found snatching cookies, my mother’s friend offered me a large piece which, being shy and silent, I tucked my head back and quickly nodded no. Soon I was picked up and lifted high enough to see the shape of a lumpy, rounded legs and rounded arms of a gingerbread man cookie. Make that “leg,” as I had picked the other one off in my counter level curiosity search.

Leaving that day, I had no idea what a gingerbread man was as I had not ever had a cookie like that before. Certainly not something typical though it is hard to believe that I had been in the dark about such a treat. Gingerbread is one of the oldest recorded confections, dating back to ancient Greeks, Egyptians and early European civilizations with 11th century crusaders bringing back the spice from the Middle East. The bread was not the smiley faced, buttoned chest version we know today but was a molded paste of dough. Made of spices and sugar, then fitted into molds, Catholic monks started making the gingerbreads for festivals making it into saints, religious symbols or motifs. [1] Other shapes in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries included the likeness of kings or royalty at times, ladies, lords and other privileged households as these exotic flavorings and ingredients were not readily available to the common man.

Earliest recipes include boiled mixtures of honey, wine, bread crumbs and spices. Sounds pretty gosh darn delicious, eh? I have a feeling I know why the recipe has changed so much. Ginger was found to be a preservative early on and was added to many cookies and cakes to keep these food stuffs fresh, or fresh enough if we stop to think about this original recipe’s final product. The name comes from “gingebras” an Old French word from an adaption of the Latin word “Zingebar,” meaning spice. First applied to a cake version of gingerbread, and cookies even were once called fairings in England in reference to the buying of gingerbread at fairs in myriad shapes. Story has it England required unwed women to eat gingerbread men at the fair like husbands as it would increase their chance of meeting a real man. If it were only that easy ladies. Some other similar yet not gingerbread men versions are listed below.

Versions: compare recipes for a more in-depth comparison:

1: Spekulaius from Rhineland and Holland. As tall as 2 foot figures… Feast of St. Nicholas on December 6th.

2: Lebkuchen: German bar cookies from the Middle Ages that used honey. Probably to replace the Trictle of even earlier times. A Christmas favorite with many variations in specific ingredients.

3: Gingerbread: baked as cake with more liquids, more eggs and not a cookie at all! Usually dressed with a light lemon icing.

4: Molasses Thins: similar to gingerbread in spice composition yet more wafer than cookie.

5: Ginger snaps: Did you say ginger? These pack more gingery punch and crunch yet are still like a spice cookie at times.

As you can see, many a cookie falls into a gingerbread-like category, yet the shape alone keeps the gingerbread man in a class all by himself. Sure, you could make gingerbread women, dogs, trees, houses… but why spoil tradition thats written into story books at this point? In all these years of history, the gingerbread man really has grown up in the public eye. Appearing every holiday season and living a rascal’s tale as the baked child of an elderly couple. Not wanting to be eaten, the gingerbread man runs and runs and runs some more as fast as he can. Tricked by a fox, the gingerbread man meets his fate after trusting the fox to get him across the river. Before even the gingerbread man was born, the Grimm Brothers’ Hansel and Gretel told of two children who discovered a house made of cake and candies which was most likely a gingerbread house since the tale is of Germanic origin. Germany holds the tightest link to gingerbread, where Nuremberg became the gingerbread capital of the world. Germany’s gingerbread was Lebkuchen, which was made by the master baker called the Lebukuchler.

Taking a Dickens -esc turn, the Victorian households valued Christmas and all the goodies that went along with it. This is where my introduction to gingerbreads became more formal and bridged the childhood cookie discovery with flavor and taste of ye ole gingerbread man. My aversion to molasses. was also born out of this dive into the role of gingerbread in the Victorian era. Crafting a traditional Victorian Christmas for a 9th grade English project I was much too overzealous about (hey, I tied baking into a literary class. I could not have been happier doing 50 times more work than was needed,) I set out to make period accurate gingerbread. Obtaining a recipe from the Old Capital Museum in Jackson MS on a (you guessed it) Victorian Christmas tour with traditional ciders, toys and a giant period decorated tree. The recipe was touted as what would have been served during those chilling to the bone cold days in England. Very Dickens -esc to me and I happily whipped up the cookies, heavy in molasses. Strong and over powering, I was not a fan from the first bicep-heavy opening of the jar. What is this black brown sugar-lard, I thought as I poured it into my batter, the heavy aroma taking me back to the taste that almost turned me off from gingerbread during that initial counter encounter so many years before. Baked to a mahogany colored hard round, I was not a fan from the get go with this Victorian approach and almost gave up on gingerbread for good. Oh, they tasted traditional, if that means a spice laden molasses cookie. I wanted a more clean flavor, spiced right, and a more appealing texture somewhere between crisp and soft; not too much chew with a melty buttery pleasure that really spoke of times now and not the gingerbread cardboards of old. Much like fruitcake, I started to wonder if gingerbread men really should be shunned from all holiday baking? Let’s not kid ourselves, most gingerbread tastes like crap. I blame the molasses, too many spices and incorrect baking times but you might have your own concerns to discuss with the gingerbread man outreach association, if there was one of course. Thinking back on the rich and happy life of gingerbread, I could not help but want to bring a refreshed take on gingerbread men and bring him out of holding and onto cookie platters everywhere again.

Personally my favorite gingerbread man is made with less molasses and a little honey to take that heavy bitter taste off. Do not drastically cut molasses in your own recipes though without cutting back on the baking soda (the two work together.) Most gingerbread cookies look great but taste awful if they are too hard or too thin, cutting back some on leavening can help keep cookies thicker. Plenty of spices yet more buttery and less burning spice is best for me, baked to a firm edge with a proper chew with the higher moisture content (comparing to cut out sugar cookies as a reference point here.) These hold their shape and even take well to being rolled thinner and baked a little longer for a more crispy gingerbread person. Also, I think person works better here as those gingerbread cookie cutters are pretty androgynous to me. Gingerbread stars or circles work too, or little farm animals. Ginger-bears seem to also be popular and work best over sized. Dip their arms and legs into white chocolate or dot on raisin buttons half way thru baking. Once you have mastered your gingerbread recipe by playing with spices and molasses, hold it dear and pass it along to your friends. So stop running, sit back with your gingerbread man in hand and catch up with this old favorite made new and worth eating again.

Variations on the Gingerbread Theme: Forgive Me Now if the Formatting is Hard to Read…

[1] Alice Ross. A gingerbread Tradition. The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles. http://www.journalofantiques.com/hearthdec.htm