Title: Gingerbread Figures- Pt 2
Categories: Cake Info Holiday
Yield: 1 Servings

1

Text file

Blend together 500 gr. of flour, 1 tablespoon of baking soda, 250 gr. of sugar, 2 packages of vanilla sugar, 2 eggs, 1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of cocoa, a pinch of ground cloves,

cardamom and peel from an untreated lemon to form a smooth dough. Gradually fold in 250 gr. of soft butter and 150 gr. of ground almonds.

Store the dough in a cool place for at least an hour and at best overnight. The next morning, roll it out to 2 mm and cut with molds (which is easy) or stuff the dough into a typical Speculatius mold. Grease a baking tin and powder it with flour. Bake the speculatius brown at 200 degrees centigrade (baking time 15 minutes). Pastries in the form of figures are not too popular among the East Frisians on the North Sea coast, who are not said to be too communicable. Why all the talk and effort into forming little figures of dough when the main thing is the taste. Eating them with the East Frisian national drink, tea, is what counts.

The East Frisians always have a waffle iron at hand over Christmas and New Years. They used to use an iron tong which was held over the fire after baking. Nowadays they use more sophisticated devices and even if they are still called waffle irons they are no longer made of iron but rather of a lighter teflon coated material. The recipe remains unchanged, however, and the trick is that here, as opposed to gingerbread. you are allowed to nibble at the dough before baking.

The dough must be prepared an evening in advance and should be stored overnight in a cool place. Good things take time after all.

For the dough, use 500 gr. of flour, 375 gr. of sugar, 250 gr. of liquid but cooled butter, 10 gr. of cardamom, 5 gr. of nutmeg, a pinch of coriander, 2 packages of vanilla sugar, 1/2 tablespoon of salt and 6 eggs. The dough should be stirred well and stored in a cool place.

Place a teaspoon of dough on the waffle iron greased with fat, close the iron and bake the waffle into a thin layer. The waffle is ready when it stops hissing and is a golden color. Remove the waffle from the iron with the help of a knife and fold into a pyramid form. Keep the waffles in a tin so that they do not get mushy.

After Christmas, the East Frisians make other waffles with the same iron: Neejahrskoken (New Years Cakes) are made as follows: mix together 500 gr. flour, 250 gr. (liquified) butter, 250 gr. rock sugar dissolved in 1/2, liter of hot water, 1 egg, lots of cinnamon (up to two tablespoons depending on your tastes) and aniseed (half ground, half seed) to form a smooth dough. Let the dough settle at first and then proceed as for the waffles. From: June Knobbe Date: 18 Jan 97 National Cooking Echo Ä

previous

next