We often say “no price at all” when we don’t want to do something under any circumstances. Of course, many people pronounce this expression without thinking at all about what it essentially means and why this very gingerbread is valuable. To understand this, you need to look at history. To those times when, in fact, gingerbread appeared in Rus' - the personification of a well-fed, rich table and holiday.
Presumably, gingerbreads appeared in Rus' in the 9th century. Back then they were called honey cakes. And for cooking they used flour, honey, and berry juice. Historians attribute the modern name of the sweet pastry “kovrizhka” to a later period – the 13th-15th centuries.
The name of the aromatic, sweet and tasty pastry supposedly comes from the word “kovriga” (whole bread) - this is a round, large, most often rye bread. But often (especially in modern cooking) they are baked very small.
In culinary dictionaries there is the following description of this very popular pastry in Russian cuisine: “This confectionery product is prepared from gingerbread dough using a large amount of honey, sugar syrup, jam and spices. The rugs can be downright gigantic in size: more than a meter long, 6-10 cm high, about a meter wide. And sometimes they weigh more than a pound.”
For reference: a pound is equal to 16.38 kg.
This sweet and spicy pastry is very popular in Russian cuisine. Perhaps one of the reasons for this special love lies in the fact that it is very easy to prepare honey gingerbread. And numerous recipes allow you to use quite affordable products that are usually required for making gingerbread.
But one batch produces a lot of gingerbreads, because they are almost always small. In the old days, they baked only one rug, but a very large one. Such that it was impossible for one person to hold her.
In classic modern recipes, such gigantic gingerbread sizes are, of course, very rare. Unless you need to set some kind of culinary record.
Honey gingerbread recipes
Whatever the cook uses when baking a ruddy honey gingerbread, its indispensable ingredient is honey. Thanks to this product, the cake remains soft, fresh and especially aromatic for a long time.
Read also: Recipe for honey Armenian baklava with walnuts
To decorate baked goods and give them an even more piquant taste and aroma, confectioners use nuts, raisins, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, jam, preserves, confiture and chocolate.
The most delicious thing about a honey cake is its middle. For this reason, it is preferable to bake large-sized gingerbreads. For example, on a large baking sheet. And cut the finished pie into small pieces.
Sometimes it is prepared from two cake layers coated with jam or marmalade. The top layer is often covered with icing made from powdered sugar.
Various recipes for sweet honey gingerbread are, of course, a plus. However, it is sometimes difficult for a novice cook to make a choice, so let’s start with the simplest recipes for classic gingerbread.
Classic rug
- honey – 150 g
- soda – ½ tsp.
- 1 egg white
- cinnamon and cloves
- sugar – 100 g
- flour - 2 cups.
Grind sugar with protein. Add all the remaining ingredients, mix and bake in the pan until done.
Honey gingerbread with sesame seeds
To prepare it you will need the following products:
- milk – 1 tbsp. l.
- flour and honey - 250 g each
- sesame
- baking powder - 2 tsp.
- cream
- ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves - a pinch each.
Add milk, spices, and candied crusts to the flour with baking powder. Quickly knead the dough (you can use a mixer). Roll the resulting mass into a ball (the dough can be cooled a little in the refrigerator if it sticks too much to your hands). Then place the gingerbread in a mold lined with oiled paper. Lightly brush the top with cream and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Honey cake with raisins
In the classic gingerbread recipe, it is customary to use raisins. Adding dried berries, nuts and seeds does not spoil the taste of this delicacy. On the contrary, they make it even more useful.
We will need:
- raisins – ½ cup (you can add some nuts if you want)
- honey - 2-3 tbsp. l.
- cinnamon – 1 tsp.
- baking soda (or baking powder) – 1 tsp.
- margarine – 100 g
- flour – 2.5-3 cups
- eggs – 2 pcs.
- sour cream – 200 g
- orange zest – 1 tsp. (you can add a little vanilla instead of zest)
- salt (on the tip of a knife)
- sugar – ¾ cup.
Read also: 3 best recipes for honey gingerbread with jam and milk
Beat eggs and sugar, add sour cream, honey, soft margarine. Separately mix flour, baking powder, salt, zest and cinnamon.
Combine the resulting dry mixture with the whipped mass. We also put raisins and nuts there.
The dough should have the consistency of sour cream. Bake, checking the doneness of the baked goods with a wooden stick.
The gingerbread with raisins and honey turns out nourishing and tasty.
Rug without filling
Required:
- flour - 3 cups
- sugar - a glass and a quarter
- honey – 1 glass
- spices (optional) – 1 tsp.
- water – ¾ cup
- margarine (butter) – 100 g
- eggs – 2 pcs. and 1 egg yolk
- soda – ½ tsp.
The dough is prepared from the above ingredients and rolled out into a layer no more than 15 mm thick. Grease the surface of the workpiece with yolk before baking. The baked layer is cut into separate pieces of the required size.
Recipe for classic honey gingerbread in the microwave
When baking a pie in a microwave oven, it is important to correctly navigate the baking time (this depends on the model of the oven and its power).
To prepare you will need:
- flour – 350-400 g
- ground cinnamon – 2 tsp.
- candied fruits, nuts – 50 g each
- water – 1 glass
- honey - 2 tbsp. l.
- sugar – 150 g
- powdered sugar – 5 tsp.
- cocoa – 2 tbsp. l.
- salt - on the tip of a knife
- 1 packet of baking powder
- vegetable oil – 80 g
- 1 pack of vanilla sugar.
Mix butter, sugar, water, vanilla sugar, salt, honey, cinnamon, cocoa with a mixer. Add flour and baking powder to the prepared mixture. We also send candied fruits and nuts there. Mix everything again and place the dough in a microwave-safe dish.
The gingerbread cooks for 5 minutes at medium power. Then another 10-12 minutes on low. If the pie is still damp, the baking time can be increased.
Decorate the finished cooled gingerbread with powdered sugar. The result is a tasty and moderately sweet delicacy, piquant in taste thanks to the presence of honey and cinnamon.
You can experiment while cooking. For example, replace the water in the recipe with tea or coffee, fruit juice or compote.
Recipe for honey gingerbread in a slow cooker
To prepare the gingerbread according to this recipe you will need:
- cocoa – 2 tbsp. l.
- water – 200 ml
- vegetable oil – 50 ml
- honey - 2 tbsp. l.
- cinnamon – 1 tsp.
- flour – 400-450 g
- sugar – 200 g
- soda – 1 tsp.
Ingredients
Flour - 1.5 cups.
Water - 1 glass.
Sugar-8 tbsp.
Vegetable oil - 0.5 cups.
Baking powder for dough - 2 tsp.
Besides: Raisins-100g. Walnuts-100g. Honey-2 tbsp. Cocoa-2 tbsp. Vanilla sugar-2 tsp.
STAGE 1
Wash the raisins and soak them in cold water for 15-20 minutes. for swelling. Then add water.
STAGE 2
Dry the raisins with a paper towel, then transfer to a bowl and roll in 1 tbsp. spoon of flour.
STAGE 3
Using a knife, chop the nuts into small pieces.
STAGE 4
In a separate bowl, mix cocoa with 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar, baking powder and vanilla sugar.
STAGE 5
Pour water into a bowl, add sugar, vegetable oil and honey. Place the bowl in a water bath and heat, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.
STAGE 6
Then remove the bowl from the water bath and add cocoa. Mix until smooth so that there are no lumps.
STAGE 7
Now let's add the nuts. Let's mix.
STAGE 8
Gradually add flour and mix well. The consistency of the dough should be like pancakes.
Next add raisins. Let's mix.
STAGE 9
Grease the pan with butter and sprinkle with flour, shaking off excess flour. Pour the finished dough into the mold.
Bake the gingerbread in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 35-40 minutes. The finished chocolate cake can be sprinkled with powdered sugar. BON APPETITE!
Step 1: Prepare the dough for making the gingerbread.
Beat the eggs into a deep bowl and lightly beat them with a fork until the white and yolk are well mixed. Add granulated sugar and sour cream to them. Stir until you add more and grind the sugar with a spoon. Once the sugar has dissolved, add flour to the bowl, sifting it through a fine sieve. Now add the raisins, which are best pre-soaked in warm water, for about 10 minutes so that it swells slightly. Break the walnut kernels by hand into 2-4 parts and add it in crushed form to the dough. Mix everything thoroughly.Step 2: Bake the gingerbread in the oven.
Grease the bottom and sides of the baking dish with a piece of butter (if you don’t have it, you can use margarine). Lightly sprinkle the top of the pan with wheat flour. Place the prepared dough into a baking pan. Preheat oven to 180
degrees and place the gingerbread in it for 40-45 minutes.
Step 3: Serve the gingerbread with raisins and nuts.
You can check the readiness of the gingerbread with a regular toothpick or match. You need to pierce the gingerbread with it in the thickest place, and if it remains dry, then it’s ready. When the gingerbread has browned and turned golden, remove the pan from the oven and cool. While the gingerbread is warm, cut it into portioned squares or diamonds of a size convenient for you and place on a serving plate. It is preferable to serve the gingerbread to the table completely cooled, as a tasty and aromatic dessert, breakfast or afternoon snack along with tea, milk, juices and other drinks. Enjoy your meal! To enrich the taste, you can add not only walnuts, but also others to such gingerbread cookies. So, make a mixture of your favorite nuts and add it to the batter. It is worth noting that stores often already sell such assorted nuts, so you don’t need to invent anything.
If you want to give the gingerbread a little piquant taste, soak the raisins in sweet wine or rum 3 hours before cooking. During this time, it will swell significantly and absorb the aroma of the drink. And just before cooking, you need to drain the remaining liquid from the raisins and place them in an even layer on paper towels to remove excess moisture.
Very often the gingerbread is eaten with jam, jam or honey. They just taste a little dry, like cookies. In this regard, baked goods are flavored with additional delicacies, which at the same time enrich its taste and tone it up.
Honey gingerbread is our grandmothers’ recipe (they called it “lenten” because they prepared it during Lent). Even before the advent of cakes, traditional for our time, our grandmothers baked such gingerbreads. And honey was used as a sweet ingredient, since there was a lot of it in Rus'.
Today you and I will learn how to cook honey gingerbread according to our grandmothers’ recipe, with nuts and raisins.
To prepare it we will need:
- 6 tablespoons honey
- half a glass of vegetable (vegetable) oil
- 1 tsp. soda
- 2 tbsp. cocoa
- cinnamon or coriander - on the tip of a knife
- 1 glass of water
- 2 cups of flour
- half a glass of raisins
- half a glass of nuts
Step-by-step recipe for making honey gingerbread:
1) Step one.
Dissolve honey in a glass of warm water. Attention: do not take hot water so that the beneficial properties of honey are preserved. If there is not much honey, or you are allergic to it, then you can reduce the amount of honey to one tablespoon so that you just have the smell of honey. Instead, take a glass of granulated sugar.
After dissolving the honey, add vegetable oil to the container.
2) Step two.
Mix cocoa, soda and cinnamon together in a separate mug, then pour it all into a container with sweet water and oil. Mix everything.
3) Step three.
Add flour to the container. Knead the dough so that it is not too liquid, but also so that there are no lumps. The consistency of the dough should be like thick sour cream (country sour cream). If the consistency is different, add either flour or a little water. Sprinkle raisins and nuts on top and move the dough so that the raisins and nuts are distributed evenly throughout the dough.
4) Step four.
Prepare a baking dish - you can take a regular frying pan. Lay parchment paper on top. Or you can grease the pan with butter and sprinkle it with flour. This is necessary so that our gingerbread does not burn, and so that it can be completely removed from the mold after baking.
Place the dough in the mold.
Bake in the oven for half an hour at 200 degrees.
In general, it should be noted that gingerbread was always prepared during Lent. Therefore, in this recipe, neither sour cream nor eggs are included in its ingredients. Whereas in other recipes for honey gingerbread these ingredients may be involved.
The finished gingerbread can be cut like a pie. Or you can cut it in half lengthwise and spread it with a layer of jam or marmalade. It will be very tasty.
By the way, instead of raisins and nuts, you can take an apple. Carpet with apples is unusual and has its own unique taste.
And in conclusion, here are a few videos on the topic of making honey gingerbread.
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