With its unmistakable scent, it is impossible to imagine our Christmas season without gingerbread. If you have time, you should make one of the many different gingerbread pastries yourself. Ready-made spice mixtures make it easier for the amateur baker to achieve the typical gingerbread taste. What’s in gingerbread and how healthy the pastry is, you can find out here.
Gingerbread: A touch of exoticism at Christmas time
Many different spices from the Orient characterize the typical gingerbread spice mix, for example:
- Star anise
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Cardamom
- Coriander
- Ginger
- Cloves
- Allspice and
- Mace (mace)
Hence the term “Pfefferkuchen”, which is still in use today, especially in eastern Germany. It goes back to the Middle Ages, when all exotic spices were quite generally called “pepper“. In addition to the above-mentioned ingredients, finished spice mixtures also contain proportions of fennel as well as orange and lemon peel. The latter, as candied orange peel and candied lemon peel, are another baking ingredient for gingerbread dough. In addition to these citrus fruit peels, hazelnuts (from Turkey, for example), walnuts (from France, for example), almonds (from California, for example), honey, marzipan and chocolate (cocoa from West Africa, for example) also belong in the gingerbread dough. So the gingerbread is truly a pastry with ingredients from all over the world!
Gingerbread: many different types
There are the most diverse ways to make this classic Christmas pastry. You can find gingerbread with more or less nuts, with jam filling, chocolate coating or icing. At Christmas markets, the popular gingerbread hearts are offered, and in the pre-Christmas period, the typical crispy or gingerbread houses from the fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel” can be found in many households. Gingerbread is characterized by the fact that it is baked without yeast. Instead, staghorn salt or potash is traditionally used as a leavening agent. Gingerbread is usually baked on wafers.
History and variants of the pepper nut
Gingerbread has been known since the 14th century, especially in the area around Nuremberg. At that time, because of the spices necessary for this pastry, the “Lebzelter” (gingerbread bakers) were especially found at important trading hubs. Thus, the Nuremberg gingerbread is still very well known today. The Elisen-Lebkuchen has the highest quality level. In addition, there are, for example, the Aachener Printen, the Basler Leckerli, the Arzberger Lebkuchen and the Pulsnitzer Pfefferkuchen. The highest-quality gingerbread (“feinste Lebkuchen”) is characterized by a high content of nuts (at least 25 percent) and a low content of flour (maximum ten percent). “Fine gingerbread,” on the other hand, must contain at least 12.5 percent almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts.
How healthy are gingerbread cookies?
Of course, gingerbread is a sweet tooth and not too healthy. But compared to other sweets, the pastry does not do so badly. Because the proportion of fat in gingerbread is quite low, unless they are coated with chocolate. And in this respect, too, it is worth taking a look at the ingredients: A chocolate coating made from couverture, for example, is healthier than one made from fat icing containing cocoa. Many of the spices contained also have positive effects on health, especially on the gastrointestinal tract, because they stimulate digestion or calm the stomach. The nuts contained also provide a high proportion of satiating fiber and supply healthy unsaturated fatty acids. Nevertheless, 100 grams of gingerbread have about 400 kilocalories – so you should enjoy the sweet treat only in moderation.
Cinnamon as a health hazard in gingerbread?
Gingerbread contains a lot of cinnamon, but this is not always healthy. Problematic is that many manufacturers prefer to use cheap cassia cinnamon instead of the expensive Ceylon cinnamon. However, this contains a fairly high proportion of coumarin, which is suspected of being harmful to health because it could damage the liver. The German Federal Institute for Risk Research (BfR) therefore warns pregnant women, children and people with liver damage in particular against consuming large quantities of cassia cinnamon. Consumers can hardly tell which type of cinnamon is used in the gingerbread when they buy it.While a higher-priced product is no guarantee that Ceylon cinnamon is included, tests showed that a lower price at least often indicates the use of Cassia cinnamon.
Acrylamide in gingerbread
If the gingerbread is baked with staghorn salt, the pastry may be contaminated with acrylamide, which is suspected of causing cancer. But there are also more and more gingerbread pastries in which hardly any acrylamide can be detected. Before buying, you should therefore find out which type of gingerbread is recommended. A look at the list of ingredients is often helpful. In addition, the European Union has legislated that food manufacturers are subject to stricter requirements in their production from April 2018. For example, products must not be overheated.
Gingerbread recipe
Would you like to bake your own gingerbread sometime, try the following recipe. Ingredients for about 20 gingerbread cookies:
- 200 g sugar
- 1 sachet vanilla sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp cinnamon (Ceylon cinnamon)
- A pinch each of grated nutmeg, cloves, allspice and cardamom
- 200 g ground almonds
- 50 g candied orange peel
- 75 g candied lemon peel
- Grated zest of half a lemon
- 300 g flour
- 1 level tsp baking powder
- 20 baking wafers (diameter 70 mm)
- Almonds or hazelnut kernels for decorating
Baking instructions
Beat eggs with the sugar and vanilla sugar in a bowl until foamy. Mix the flour with the baking powder and put on a baking board. Make a well in the center and pour the egg-sugar mixture in there. Knead with the flour and then add the almonds, candied orange peel, candied lemon peel and spices. If you like it easier, you can use a ready-made gingerbread spice mix. Mix everything into a thick paste that is a bit sticky. Roll small balls out of it and press them onto the wafers. The dough should be spread on them about the thickness of a finger. Decorate wafers with almonds or nuts and bake in oven at 180 ºC for 25 up to 30 minutes.
