Wuselig Recipes · Recipe 68
VegetarianWusel Gingerbread Biscuits
Make a simple gingerbread dough with sugar beet syrup and spices, chill and cut out. Decorate with water icing after baking and cooling.
The little story
The Gingerbread under the Scarf
The little gingerbread biscuits were baked and cool. The kitchen still smelled of spices. Flauschi drew a thin white line over a heart while Puschel set a round biscuit before him.
Puschel„Mine needs a scarf. And another one. It is winter, after all.“
He crossed several lines. Soon the middle looked almost entirely white. Flauschi paused and looked at his work with wide eyes.
Flauschi„Puschel, is there still a biscuit under those scarves?“
Puschel„Certainly. It has just dressed very warmly.“
With the blunt spoon he moved some icing back into his own little bowl. A brown edge appeared again.
Flauschi„One little scarf is enough. Then we can still see the gingerbread.“
The other biscuits received just a few thin lines. They waited for the icing to dry. Puschel smelled a plain heart.
Puschel„You can smell Christmas even without three scarves.“
Flauschi„Yes. The spices have already thought of everything.“
They shared a finished biscuit. From then on they called the round one the well-wrapped biscuit, even though it only wore one thin scarf now.
Active preparation: about 50 minutes · 30 minutes chilling · Baking in total: about 48 minutes · About 25 minutes cooling after the last batch · About 20 minutes for icing/chocolate to set · Total: about 175 minutes. About 4 batches on a standard tray (about 30 × 40 cm), baked one at a time. Times and yield are estimates. Allow longer for a smaller tray, extra chilling or slow-setting icing.
Makes about 70–80 small gingerbread biscuits
How to make it
In a few words: Make a simple gingerbread dough with sugar beet syrup and spices, chill and cut out. Decorate with water icing after baking and cooling.
Ingredients
- 350 g plain wheat flour, plus 1 tbsp for rolling
- 2 level tsp baking powder (about 8 g)
- 125 g softened butter
- 80 g caster sugar
- 100 g sugar beet syrup
- 1 medium egg
- 2 level tsp unsweetened ground gingerbread spice (about 4 g)
- A small pinch of salt
- For simple water icing: 80 g icing sugar and 1–2 tbsp water
Method
- Wash hands, weigh ingredients and line two trays with baking paper. Adults handle mixers, sharp tools, the oven and hot trays. Do not taste raw dough.
- Mix flour, baking powder, gingerbread spice and salt. Add butter, caster sugar, syrup and egg. Briefly knead until smooth. Flatten, cover and chill for 30 minutes.
- An adult preheats to 180 °C conventional or 160 °C fan.
- Roll portions on a little flour to 4 mm thick. Cut small rounds or hearts about 5 cm across. Place 3 cm apart on cold trays; the dough will rise a little. Briefly gather scraps.
- Bake trays one at a time on the middle shelf for 10–12 minutes each. The surface should look dry and the edges set. Do not wait for dark browning: syrup already colours the dough brown. Biscuits are a little soft while hot and firm up as they cool. Allow about 4 batches. Keep remaining dough and the next tray covered in the fridge. Let a used tray cool completely before placing more dough on it.
- An adult removes the tray with oven gloves. Leave biscuits on the tray for 5 minutes to firm up, then carefully move to a rack and cool completely for about another 20 minutes. Eat only once cool.
- Mix 80 g icing sugar with 1 tbsp water first. Add more only drop by drop until icing runs slowly off the spoon. Add a few thin lines to the cold biscuits and let dry for at least about 20 minutes until set; allow longer depending on the room and coating thickness. These are simple syrup gingerbread biscuits, not Elisenlebkuchen.
Keeping your biscuits
Pack only once biscuits are completely cool and icing is dry and set. Keep in a dry, tightly closing tin; best eaten within 2 weeks.