India Galyean shows you step by step how to make a gingerbread house.
Gingerbread is a sweet that can take the form of a cake or a cookie in which the predominant flavors are ginger and raw sugar. Gingerbread was introduced to Europe long ago by the Crusaders.
The
town of Market Drayton in Shropshire, UK is known as the "home of
gingerbread" and this is proudly decreed on the welcome sign. The first
recorded mention of gingerbread being baked in the town dates back to
1793; however, it was probably made earlier as ginger was stocked in
high street businesses from the 1640s. Gingerbread became widely
available in the 1700s.
Originally,
the term gingerbread (from Latin zingiber via Old French gingebras)
referred to preserved ginger, then to a confection made with honey and
spices. Gingerbread is often translated into French as pain d'épices
(literally "spice bread"). Pain d'épices is a French pastry also made
with honey and spices, but not crispy.
As
a cookie, gingerbread can be made into a thin, crisp cookie (often
called a ginger snap) or a softer cookie similar to the German
Lebkuchen. Gingerbread cookies are often cut into shapes, particularly
gingerbread men. Traditionally it was dunked in port wine.
A
gingerbread is used to build gingerbread houses similar to the "witch's
house" encountered by Hansel and Gretel. These houses, covered with a
variety of candies and icing, are popular Christmas decorations,
typically built by children with the help of their guardians.
Another
variant uses a boiled dough that can be molded like clay to form
inedible statuettes or other decorations. A significant form of popular
art in Europe, major centers of gingerbread mold carving included Lyon,
Nürnberg, Pest, Prague, Pardubice, Pulsnitz, Ulm, and Toruń.
Gingerbread molds often displayed the "news", showing carved portraits
of new kings, emperors, and queens, for example. Substantial mould
collections are held at the Ethnographic Museum in Toruń, Poland and the
Bread Museum in Ulm, Germany.
The
lesser known bread form tends to be a dense, treaclely (molasses-based)
spice bread. Some recipes add mustard, pepper, raisins, nuts, and/or
other spices/ingredients to the batter. In one variation, the bread
omits raisins or nuts and is served with warm lemon sauce. In the United
States, the bread is more often served in the winter, particularly at
Christmas time in the central parts of Pennsylvania.
More Fun Links to Gingerbread:
More Fun Links to Gingerbread:
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