Title: Gingerbread Men (Thorner Kathrinchen)
Categories: Holiday Cookie German
Yield: 1 Servings

		The most popular kind of
		Christmas gingerbread in
		Eastern
		Germany was associated with
		The city of Thorn
		(present-day
		Torun), which was founded by
		The Teutonic Knights, was a
		Member
		The Hanseatic League, and
		Was the seat of a famous
		Medical
		University
		And Russia for several
		Centuries apiece; it
		Reverted to Poland
		After the First World War,
		Though the famous 'Thorner
		Kathrinchen' (Little Kates)
		Are still very much part of
		The
		Popular culture of the city
		In later years, Thorn/Torun
		Belonged both to Poland
..		and of Germany.

2 Tbsp butter 1/2 cup (scant) sugar 1 cup plus 1 Tbsp honey 1 Tbsp gingerbread spices (ground cardamon, anise, cloves, cinnamon, ginger - mixed together according to taste) small pinch of salt grated peel of 1 fresh lemon 2 Tbsp sugar 1 egg yolk 2 1/2 tsp baking soda 2 Tbsp rosewater 2 1/4 cups flour vanilla or chocolate icing (optional)

Melt together the butter, sugar, and honey over low heat, then allow to cool. Add the gingerbread spices, salt, grated lemon peel, sugar, and the egg yolk; stir until lightened. Stir the baking soda into the rosewater and add to the egg yolk mixture. Combine this mixture with the flour and knead into a dough. Let stand overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Generously butter a baking sheet. Roll out the dough on the sheet about 1/4 inch thick, and cut the dough into long reactangles or stamp out little gingerbread men with a cookie cutter (the original 'Kathrinchen' are shaped like the pastries called 'langues du chat', or "cat's tongues" - or ladyfingers with broadened ends). Whatever design you decide on, bake for 15 to 20 minutes. And, if you choose, frost with chocolate or vanilla icing when cookies are lukewarm.

Makes 10 servings.

From: THE CUISINES OF GERMANY by Horst Scharfenberg, Simon & Schuster/Poseidon Press, New York. 1989 Shared by: Karin Brewer, Cooking Echo, 12/93

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