Home General issues Roe new year. Arkhangelsk Christmas gingerbread roes. Arkhangelsk roes: origin story

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Roe new year. Arkhangelsk Christmas gingerbread roes. Arkhangelsk roes: origin story

Roe deer: recipe New Year's gingerbread

Stages of making New Year's Arkhangelsk gingerbread.

There are a lot of recipes for making Arkhangelsk gingerbread - kozul. I will share the one that our family uses and that my mother taught me. I participated in the manufacture of roes from early childhood - at first I painted the roes baked by my mother, and now, as an adult, I took over from my mother and bake them myself for each New Year. This is our kind northern family tradition, and I will be glad if it enters your families and fills the new year with the feeling of an unforgettable magical winter fairy tale!

Making New Year's Arkhangelsk gingerbread is a very lengthy process that includes three stages:

Test preparation.
Bakery.
Decorating baked gingerbread with icing.

Each of these stages cannot be done in a hurry or in the course of ordinary affairs - nothing will work out. Your mood will be reflected in the quality of the gingerbread. Before the start of each stage, you need to smile, get rid of unnecessary thoughts and worries, fully concentrate on this creative process, and be in a peaceful state during the creation of the gingerbread. For example, silently - to yourself - read prayers or pronounce good wishes to those people to whom you will give gingerbread. Then the roes will bring only joy, health and happiness. And your reward will be the smiles of those to whom you give them, as well as the unique taste and beauty of the resulting gingerbread, harmony and peace in your home.

Make the dough when no one will bother you or distract you - in our family it was always late in the evening when the children were sleeping. The dough is made by adults without the participation of children, as this process is very difficult and requires accuracy and accuracy. But cutting out roes with the help of molds and decorating them with icing is something that we can do together with the children as a family!

First stage. We make dough for goats.

To make the test you will need:

- 3-3.5 cups of granulated sugar, a glass of chilled boiled water, about 2 kg of flour (it must be sifted through a sieve), a pack of 200-250 gr. butter or high-quality creamy margarine (better done in butter), 2 eggs, 1 tbsp. baking soda slaked vinegar, spices for gingerbread (ground cloves, cinnamon, ginger, coriander).

How to make dough:

Step 1. Pour 2-2.5 cups of granulated sugar with 1 cup of chilled boiled water and put on a small fire. Cooking syrup.

We cut butter into small pieces.

Step 2 At the same time, on another burner in a metal saucepan, burn 1 cup of granulated sugar until brown. Do this over low heat with constant stirring. It is best to stir either with the handle of a metal spoon or with a knife (so that the sugar does not stick). Sugar will first melt to a brown liquid, then foam will appear, it will boil and smoke. Let it boil a little, turn off the burner and immediately go to step 3.

Step 3 Pour the burnt sugar into the syrup in a thin stream with constant stirring with a spoon of the resulting mixture. We do this very slowly and carefully, without haste.

Step 4 Add the chopped butter to the resulting mixture and mix until a homogeneous liquid is obtained. We put to cool on the balcony or outside the window.

While the mixture is cooling to a warm state in the cold, soak the dishes, otherwise the sugar will harden and it will be difficult to wash it. And then we prepare the dough.

Step 5 Put spices to taste in another large saucepan. We usually put two tablespoons of spices: 1 tbsp. l. ground cinnamon and 1 tbsp. ground cloves. We buy whole cloves and grind them ourselves immediately before preparing gingerbread - it turns out to be more fragrant than ready-made ground cloves sold in stores. You can use other spices - ginger, coriander or ready mix spices for gingerbread.

Step 6 We put 1 tablespoon of baking soda in the same pan (extinguish it with vinegar).

Step 7 Beat 2 eggs with a mixer or whisk. Add to the same pot.

And then pour the warm liquid into this pan, which in step 4 we put in the cold to cool. Mix everything thoroughly.

Step 8 Test batch. We start adding flour to the pan. We note the time on the timer, since it takes at least an hour to knead. Be sure to sift the flour through a sieve before kneading. Add flour in very small portions, mix with a spoon or mixer. It is difficult to predict how much flour will be needed, you need to feel it - but about 1.5-1.8 kg.

When the dough becomes tight enough, we begin to knead it not with a mixer, but by hand. We knead exactly one hour. If even after half an hour it seems to you that the dough is ready, continue to knead it anyway. Incorrectly made dough will crack when baking. When kneading, we put our positive thoughts into our living dough, say good wishes to ourselves to those people who will eat these gingerbread cookies, read prayers - that is, we do everything that will help you bring yourself into a state of calm, joy and gratitude to the world, nature, gratitude to their family and loved ones.

Kneading the dough requires great physical effort, so men have been involved in this business for a long time.

After an hour of thorough kneading of the dough, you will get a beautiful loaf of uniform dense consistency. It looks like wet clay with a silky glossy surface that is very pleasant to stroke with your hand. The dough should not stick to your hands. We wrap the dough in a bag, tie the bag and put the dough in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf. The dough should lie in the cold for 2 weeks. If you did not have time to make the dough in advance, then let it lie in the cold for at least a day.

Small addition: my mother did not have and does not have a clear initially set proportion of products in goat dough - she “felt” it (like my grandmother) and did a lot “by instinct”. For example, sometimes I put not 2 eggs in the dough, but 3 eggs. And soda took 3/4 teaspoon. Flour sometimes took 1.5 kg, sometimes 1.8 kg - this was not measured by weights. and was determined by its consistency. But this is already "aerobatics" for which you need experience in baking roes. At the initial stage, it is better to make the dough according to the same recipe many times.

Second phase. We cut out the goats from the dough and bake.

For baking gingerbread you will need: molds or cardboard templates for cutting figures, rolling pin.

You can download 65 ready-made templates for gingerbread for free in the article "Stencils for gingerbread" on my website "Native Path" -. And also in this article you can visit the gingerbread ball and see the real northern roes of fabulous beauty.

Step 1. We take out the dough in advance from the cold and put it for 8-12 hours to warm up at room temperature.

Step 2 We cut pieces from the dough and roll them with a rolling pin into layers about 5 mm thick, no more.

Step 3 According to a cardboard template or using ready-made shapes, we cut out the figures. We put large figures in the center of the layer, small ones on the sides. We try to arrange the figures so as to use the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe dough layer.

Step 4 We bake the roes in the oven at a temperature of 180 degrees for about 5 minutes (the exact time depends on the characteristics of your oven).

How do you know if the gingerbread is baked?

- If the gingerbread after 5 minutes of baking has the color of creamy toffee, then it is not ready yet, and you still need to keep it in the oven for another 2 minutes. If the gingerbread is brown after 5 minutes of baking milk chocolate This means that they are ready and can be removed from the oven.

- It should be noted that the gingerbread cookies that you take out of the oven will be slightly soft, but at the same time ruddy. Gingerbread will still ripen - dried in the air during the day. And then they become more solid. Place the baked gingerbread cookies on a hard surface - let them lie down for a day.

- In my modern oven, it takes 7 minutes to bake at 180 degrees with ventilation, and not 5 minutes - like in my mother's oven. Here you need to try and notice the specific “Your” time and write it down for yourself in the future in the recipe for roes.

- If the gingerbread cookies are overexposed in the oven, then in a day they will become hard as a stone. If they are underexposed in the oven, then the surface of the roe will wrinkle in the future and will look ugly, uneven. Each oven has its own "character" - so be sure to note the time your goats were in the oven when you first baked them. And then for the future, either remember it (if everything works out well), or correct it.

Supplement as an option. In our family, it is customary to bake gingerbread with a matte surface, as I described above. If you want to get gingerbread with a glossy surface, then they must be greased before baking with yolk or yolk, diluted and well mixed with 1 tablespoon of water. My mother sometimes smeared the surface of the gingerbread with one protein. Try different options and choose the one you like best.

Third stage. Decorate the goats with icing.

For the frosting you will need: 1 protein, 1 lemon, 1 raw beetroot, 1 cup of powdered sugar (pre-sift through a sieve). You can buy powdered sugar or make your own from granulated sugar.

Step 1. Beat with a mixer or whisk one egg white. You need to beat very carefully, as poorly whipped protein will give bubbles when decorating the gingerbread.

Step 2 Gradually add powdered sugar to the protein in small portions and continue to beat. It turned out white glaze.

Step 3 Add a few drops of lemon juice to the frosting. Lemon juice is added to give the glaze a shine and a slightly sour taste. white icing ready.

Separate ¼ of the icing into a separate bowl and cook the pink icing in it.

Step 4 Preparing pink frosting. To do this, three pieces of raw beets on a fine grater, squeeze out the juice and add a few drops of this juice to the bowl for pink icing. We stir. Add beetroot juice until desired pink color is obtained.

Now add and food colorings to obtain a variety of glaze colors, but we never use them at home and decorate gingerbread cookies only with traditional colors - white and pink - and only with the use of natural products.

Step 5 We decorate gingerbread.

Children are traditionally involved in decorating gingerbread - from the smallest to teenagers. This is a very exciting creative process!

In northern gingerbread, they usually do not fill the background with icing with spots, but draw patterns on it - straight lines, wavy lines, curls, dots, crosses, zigzags.

You can paint with icing on the surface of the gingerbread using:

A) sticks (since childhood I have been drawing with the reverse sharp end of a wooden brush), often dipping it into the glaze and wiping excess glaze from it with a linen napkin while working,

B) a regular brush for painting with natural bristles.

C) you can pour the icing into a small plastic bag, make a hole in the corner and draw with it like a culinary bag,

D) for thin lines, a wooden toothpick is used,

D) using a ready-made pastry bag for decorating cakes and pastries.

These are the methods we use. Even when I was very small, I never painted on goats with my fingers - this is not customary with us. Little roe children decorate with a stick, putting large dots and drawing large lines. If you draw with your finger, then the roe deer will come out clumsy, slovenly, not ours, not northern ones. If you need to correct something, then we moisten the brush for drawing in a glass of water, remove excess water from the brush with a linen napkin. And we correct the contours of the picture with a wet brush.

Little trick: If you want the icing to turn out snowy, then sprinkle the gingerbread with sugar immediately after painting, when the icing has not yet dried. When the icing has hardened, shake off the sugar. It will turn out a shaggy and fluffy pattern like snow on your goats.

Have fun and enjoy your creativity! And at the end of the article - a little about the history of these gingerbreads from the article by Stepan Pisakhov "About goats"

About goats

“The departing old way of life takes with it the mystery of the origin of the Christmas goats. It has long been started to bake roes for Christmas. But why are they baked for Christmas only? And where does this name - goats come from? These are still questions to this day... Our ethnographers ignored them, apparently because they came to Arkhangelsk in the summer, when there is no roe deer. I will try to say a few words about goats. Maybe someone will respond and it will be possible to find out the beginning of the goats.
The most ancient roes - Kholmogory and Mezen - are made of black dough, sometimes colored with white dough. Kholmogory roes look like deer. A figure on four legs, a head, a bush of branched horns, apples on the horns, birds on the apples, or rather bird wings made of white dough (an apple with wings resembles the image of a winged sun) is molded from the dough. And the whole roe seems to have been transferred from a very ancient pagan world. There seems to be some kind of occult record in this strangely beautiful figure. The size of such a roe is 5-6 inches. Smaller roe deer are made without apples on their horns, but only with birds (birds resemble hands with spread fingers). Roe deer are also baked in a small size - about an inch, simplified according to the drawing, or they try to make them look like a cow, a horse (sometimes with a rider on a horse). Professor Zelinsky noticed in 1913 that these small roe deer are very similar in shape and size to the figures of the Stone Age.
In the Mezen district, in addition to small ones, similar to those of Kholmogory, flat roe deer are also baked: they roll out the dough into a long ribbon half a pencil thick and roll it with various patterns, sometimes unexpectedly similar to a sacred lotus in a wavy environment resembling radiance. There are also birds on the nest and others.
In the spring of 1914, at my request, the old woman undertook to cook roe deer. She rolled out the threads from the dough and began to fold the drawing, whispering something. I asked: “What, grandmother, are you whispering?” The old woman stopped and said sternly: “Don’t knock down if you need roes.” Whether the whispering of the old woman had anything to do with goats, I do not know. The old woman did not explain. Others responded with ignorance.
In Arkhangelsk, roes are baked from gingerbread dough, are cut with iron forms (gingerbread silhouettes) and decorated (cut) with sugar icing, white and colored (usually pink), richly covered with "gold" and "scattering". Forms made of iron, sometimes quite thick, persist for a long time, passing from generation to generation. Questioning managed to establish the age of the forms up to 200 years, but, undoubtedly, there are forms and much older. At El. Pet. P-howl from her mother, grandmother, etc. Also, other masters of kozul have the most ancient drawings that have come down to us. Goat and goat girls often do not know how to draw with a pencil at all, but they will take a stick or a tube with icing and, following the silhouette of a gingerbread, repeating what they have seen and adopted from their elders, they create drawings of amazing beauty.
In 1913 or 1914 I saw a goat deer imitating an eagle at the market of a roe trader. On his chest he has the letter "A" and one stick (Alexander 1). He asked her: “Why do you have the letter “A” and one stick on your eagle? You need "H" and two sticks. And he heard in response: “But because it is necessary. My mother and my grandmother made the letter "A" and one stick - that means it's necessary. And what kind of pointer were you looking for? Forms in confectionery are subject to changes. There, the masters come up with new forms and refine themselves in the intricacy of cutting, little regard for the established patterns.
Roe deer start baking in October. In early December, roe deer appear in bakeries and confectioneries. In mid-December, they fill all the windows and shelves of bakeries and pastry shops. The size of goats is from one and a half to 10-12 inches. Their cost is from a penny to a ruble, and more elaborate confectioners' products cost up to 10 rubles or more.
Roe deer fill the market before Christmas. Roe deer vendors line up and unfold their boxes - they offer buyers a wide choice. A huge number of parcels with goats were sent across Russia and abroad.
Much in the Arkhangelsk province has been preserved from a very deep antiquity. It seems to me that both Kholmogory and Mezen roe deer (and in a number of other counties) are the legacy of the local first settlers. It is possible that the Novgorodians and Muscovites who came here brought gingerbread with them. And from the ancient roe from black dough and from the gingerbread our roe could come to light. But, perhaps, the gingerbread was brought to the North by foreigners and adapted instead of pagan cookies for the Christian holiday.
Drawings of the most ancient forms - a star, an angel, a shepherd, a basket (with gifts), birds, animals close to humans, a Christmas tree, grapes, vases with flowers, a deer with a sleigh, a lion (the lion as the king of beasts, or maybe the influence of English or Norwegian). Later roe deer - Amazon, cab driver, dog with booth, cat. And appeared over the past decades - a steamer, a steam locomotive, a cyclist, an airplane. And after 1920 - a sickle and a hammer and a grandfather with the slogan "Proletarians of all countries, unite!". In 1925, I saw a goat with the image of a new eagle on the market: the shape of the gingerbread is the same as before, only on the chest of the eagle there is a hammer and sickle, the cross is cut off, and on the crown - "RSFSR".
Last year, in 1926, I met N. D. Vinogradov in Moscow, who collected a large and, it seems, the only collection of gingerbread in Russia as examples of folk art. Seeing how N. D. Vinogradov lovingly and attentively treats this type of folk art, I set myself the task of collecting for him as complete a collection of roes as possible. And, perhaps, with the help of N. D. Vinogradov and other efficient people, it will be possible to find out their origin.
From the collection of Pisakhov S.G. Tales, Essays, Letters. / Ser. Russian north. - Arkhangelsk, North-Western book publishing house, 1985.

Another recipe for New Year's gingerbread and gingerbread for the Christmas tree that you can make with your children - you will find in the articles "Gingerbread for the Christmas tree."

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The northern roe gingerbread appeared in the Arkhangelsk Solombala - a region of artisans. In those distant times, roes were baked only on the biggest holidays. For a long time it was believed that the goat brings good luck. So, for example, people believed that if a girl bakes a goat herself, and then gives it to a young man, then next year she will definitely get married. A big goat was given immediately for the whole family. It was believed that she would bring good luck to the house, become his amulet.

KOZULI - gingerbread of the Arkhangelsk Pomors

According to an old tradition, figured cut-out gingerbreads are baked in Arkhangelsk, decorated with colored sugar glaze.

Little, horned,
Doesn't turn his head
Crunchy on the teeth...

Well, of course it's a goat! And what is it? Figures - deer, skates, bulls, cows, goats, birds, seals - made of rye dough - have a common meaning, the common name is "roes".

Have you ever tried northern gingerbread - roes? Delicious, crispy gingerbread with the aroma of herbs. Now the tradition of baking kozuli is being revived, and earlier during the Soviet era such delicious gingerbread was not available.

The first roe deer appeared on the Pomeranian land many centuries ago. They are considered the most ancient type of baked figurative dough, dating back to the cult figurines of the 12th century. There is chronicle evidence that back in the 12th century, our ancestors sculpted figures of bulls and cows from dough. Gingerbreads were strips of dough woven into bizarre twists. For the twisted, serpentine shape, the ancient Pomeranian cookies got their name - kozuli, from the Pomeranian word "roe" - snake, curl.

The image of the roe-snake was associated with the autumn harvest, or rather with its completion - with the autumn New Year or New Year (in September). Later, this tradition was transferred to the winter Christmas and the January New Year. And in the Kargopol region, roes were made in the form of serpentine curls folded into circles called "teterki" and baked in mid-March, which also refers to a very ancient rite dedicated to the spring equinox.
Pomors believed that such roe-snakes would bring wealth and prosperity to the house.

There are three types of roe: Kholmogory voluminous (resembling clay figurines), Kargopol roe-grouse and painted flat roe-gingerbread. Arkhangelsk painted roe gingerbread appeared in the Russian North when sugar and spices (cinnamon and cloves) became available to the population of the provincial center, that is, not earlier than the 18th century.

In the old days, gingerbread was also made in the form of animals - deer, skates, bulls, cows, goats, seals. The custom of baking animals originates from pagan beliefs. It is assumed that the creation of a herd of grain is a modified sacrifice. There was such a belief that the more people bake animal figurines, the more game there will be in the forests and cattle in the yards. On which the well-being of the people directly depended. The Slavs also believed that roes bring happiness to the house, so they were kept in the house for up to a year, and sometimes more. This tradition has been preserved to this day.

In ancient times, a deer, a horse were symbols of the Sun, a solar deity, associated with the image of the god Yarila. Often they were depicted on a stand - a symbol of the universe. Kholmogory roes (from rye flour) is a figure on four legs, a head, a bush of branched horns, apples on the horns, birds on the apples, or rather bird wings made of white dough. An apple with wings resembles the image of a winged sun. And its size reached 245 cm. Often the roes were given names: Belyan, yes Belek, yes Chernukha ...

Brides and young girls were given horses with a mane braided into a triple pigtail - as a symbol of Faith, Hope, Love. Roe deer were also placed in front of the icon.

There were roes in the form of a star, an angel, a shepherd, a basket (with gifts), birds, etc. These figurines resemble Christian symbols, but the true meaning has been lost over time.

In the old days, the production and painting of roes was largely ritual in nature, our ancestors believed in the protective power of fragrant gingerbread. Roe deer are both a charm and a talisman.

Today, Arkhangelsk roes are a beautiful fragrant edible souvenir, a great gift for any holiday or anniversary.
Gingerbread shapes have become diverse. There are houses and hearts, and cartoon characters, etc.

Gingerbread cookies are stored for up to a year, therefore, gingerbread cookies painted by you will be a great gift for all time!

In the old days, roes were baked from rye flour to get a characteristic dark color, on which the glaze pattern looks the most advantageous. Later they began to be made from wheat flour, adding burnt sugar. The dough was prepared in advance, it could lie in the cold for weeks, and it only got better. Different figurines were cut out - goat girls had their own molds, which they cherished and passed on by inheritance. Already baked and cooled roes were covered with glaze of two colors: white and pink, obtained by adding lingonberry or cranberry juice.
Now, along with just gingerbread, they began to invent various gingerbread houses, and even do models of wooden churches.

Pomeranian roes - recipe

Roe deer are made from specially prepared dough. Pieces of dough are shaped into various animals - goats and goats, deer, lambs, cows and bulls, as well as cats, seals and birds. The made figurines are baked in an oven or oven on a greased sheet. Kozuli is also considered a regional variety of Russian gingerbread. According to the method of manufacture, modern roe deer can be attributed to carved gingerbread.
Dough recipes are quite diverse, and many families have their own recipes for making dough, which have been kept in families for decades. Roe deer are usually colorfully decorated with glaze, which is made from whipped proteins with the addition of various natural dyes.

Roe deer "Solombala"

600g granulated sugar, 500g margarine, 1/2 tsp. salt, 4 eggs, 1 tbsp. l. cinnamon, 1 tbsp. cloves, 2.4 tsp soda (quench with vinegar), 2 kg of flour.
200g. burn granulated sugar, pour 2 cups of boiling water into it gradually and add another 400 g of sand. Remove from heat, but stir in margarine and salt while still warm. Cool the resulting mass. Then add eggs, cinnamon and cloves, add soda, quenched with vinegar, lastly flour. Knead hard dough, cut it into pieces, roll the pieces into cakes and you can cut out the figures.
Before baking, anoint products with yolk diluted with water (1/2 cup of water per yolk).
Ready-made roes are painted with colored glaze.
Glaze:
- boil the syrup from 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 cup of water (check the readiness with a ring - bubbles should be blown out of it);
- pour 2 whipped egg whites into hot syrup and beat this mixture until it cools;
- add 2-3 drops citric acid or vinegar essence and add color with food coloring.
Then you can add ½ cup of honey (the test period increases to 2-3 weeks) or condensed milk (the dough should stand for 3-4 weeks).

Murmansk roes

Dough:
600 g of granulated sugar. 150 g butter or creamy margarine. 3 eggs. Cloves, cinnamon, baking soda - 1 teaspoon each. 1.2-1.3 kg of flour. Burn a glass of granulated sugar in an enameled dish. When all the sugar has melted, add 1 cup of hot boiled water (slowly). Mix. Then add 2 more cups of granulated sugar. When everything boils and the sugar melts, turn it off. Add 150 g butter or margarine. When everything cools down a little, add 2 yolks and 1 whole egg, also add spices with water. Add flour (not all). Then pour the flour on the table and knead the dough. Put the dough in a bag and put it in the cold: in the cold outside or in the freezer. Can be stored up to 1 month. Cut the dough from the refrigerator into small pieces and knead well - so that it begins to shine. Do not add flour to this.
Roll out the dough with a thickness of 5 mm, cut out any figures and bake them in the oven. Lubricate the baking sheet not greasy, but a little bit so that the gingerbread cookies do not burn.
Glaze:
To make the frosting, beat 2 egg whites, slowly adding the powdered sugar until the frosting is thick. Put the icing in a bag (paper rolled up into a tube) and paint the gingerbread.

Arkhangelsk roes

Burn 1 glass of granulated sugar, then dissolve it in a glass hot water. Then add 2 cups of granulated sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Turn off the heat and add 150 g of butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, cloves and soda, cool slightly, add 1 egg and 2 yolks. After that, add about 0.5 kg of flour, knead the dough so that it does not stick to your hands. Keep the dough in a saucepan and cellophane in a cool place for a week. After that, add another 0.5 kg of granulated sugar to the dough and roll it out to a thickness of 0.5 cm. Cut the rolled out dough into shapes from tin or thick paper and put it on a baking sheet, once oiled.
Lubricate the gingerbread cookies with a beaten egg with water in a ratio of 1: 1 and put in the oven. Bake 5 - 7 minutes. Let the finished gingerbread cookies dry, then remove them from the baking sheet and decorate with icing.

In order to make the glaze colored, you can use natural dyes:
* white paint: powdered sugar, milk, sour cream;
* yellow: mix lemon zest with carrot juice and oil, fry for 3-5 minutes until softened and strain through cheesecloth;
* green: spinach juice;
* red and pink: juice of raspberries, strawberries, lingonberries, currants, cherries, pomegranates, boiled beets;
* orange: orange and tangerine juice;
* brown: cocoa powder.

According to an old tradition, on New Year's Eve, figured cut-out gingerbreads are baked in Arkhangelsk, decorated with colored sugar glaze. And from the moment the spicy smell of cinnamon and cloves reigns in the house, there comes a joyful expectation of the holiday with the traditional ceremony of decorating the Christmas tree and giving away sweet gifts to children and gifts to relatives and friends "for good luck" in the new year.

Little, horned,

Doesn't turn his head

Crunchy on the teeth...

Well, of course it's a goat! And what is it? Figures - deer, skates, bulls, cows, goats, birds, seals - made of rye dough - have a common meaning, the common name is "roes".

The first roe deer appeared on the Pomeranian land many centuries ago. is considered the most ancient type of baked figured dough, dating back to the cult figurines of the 12th century. There is chronicle evidence that back in the 12th century, our ancestors sculpted figurines of bulls and cows from dough. Gingerbread were strips of dough, woven into bizarre twists. For the twisted, serpentine shape, the ancient Pomeranian cookies got their name - kozuli, from the Pomeranian word "roe" - snake, curl.

The image of the roe-snake was associated with the autumn harvest, or rather with its completion - with the autumn New Year or New Year (September 14). Later, this tradition was transferred to the winter Christmas and the January New Year. And in the Kargopol region, roes were made in the form of serpentine curls folded into circles called "teterki" and baked in mid-March, which also refers to a very ancient rite dedicated to the spring equinox.
Pomors believed that such roe-snakes would bring wealth and prosperity to the house.

In ancient times, a deer, a horse were symbols of the Sun, a solar deity, associated with the image of the god Yarila. Often they were depicted on a stand - a symbol of the universe. Kholmogory roes (made from rye flour) are a figure on four legs, a head, a bush of branched horns, apples on the horns, birds on the apples, or rather bird wings made of white dough. An apple with wings resembles the image of a winged sun. And its size reached 245 cm. Often the roes were given names: Belyan, yes Belek, yes Chernukha ...

Brides and young girls were given horses with a mane braided into a triple pigtail - as a symbol of Faith, Hope, Love. Roe deer were also placed in front of the icon.

There were roes in the form of a star, an angel, a shepherd, a basket (with gifts), birds, etc. These figurines resemble Christian symbols, but the true meaning has been lost over time.

In the old days, the production and painting of roes was largely ritual in nature, our ancestors believed in the protective power of fragrant gingerbread. Roe deer are both a charm and a talisman.

Gingerbread cookies are stored for up to a year, therefore, gingerbread cookies painted by you will be a great gift for all time!

Pomeranian roes - recipe

Roe deer "Solombala"

600g granulated sugar, 500g margarine, 1/2 tsp. salt, 4 eggs, 1 tbsp. l. cinnamon, 1 tbsp. cloves, 2.4 tsp soda (quench with vinegar), 2 kg of flour.
200g. burn granulated sugar, pour 2 cups of boiling water into it gradually and add another 400 g of sand. Remove from heat, but stir in margarine and salt while still warm. Cool the resulting mass. Then add eggs, cinnamon and cloves, add soda, quenched with vinegar, lastly flour. Knead a stiff dough, cut it into pieces, roll out the pieces into cakes and you can cut out the figures.
Before baking, anoint products with yolk diluted with water (1/2 cup of water per yolk).
Ready-made roes are painted with colored glaze.
Glaze:
- boil the syrup from 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 cup of water (check the readiness with a ring - bubbles should be blown out of it);
- pour 2 whipped egg whites into hot syrup and beat this mixture until it cools;
- add 2-3 drops of citric acid or vinegar essence and color with food coloring.
Then you can add ½ cup of honey (the test period increases to 2-3 weeks) or condensed milk (the dough should stand for 3-4 weeks).

Murmansk roes

Arkhangelsk roes

Burn 1 glass of granulated sugar, then dissolve it in a glass of hot water. Then add 2 cups of granulated sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Turn off the heat and add 150 g of butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, cloves and soda, cool slightly, add 1 egg and 2 yolks. After that, add about 0.5 kg of flour, knead the dough so that it does not stick to your hands. Keep the dough in a saucepan and cellophane in a cool place for a week. After that, add another 0.5 kg of granulated sugar to the dough and roll it out to a thickness of 0.5 cm. Cut the rolled out dough into shapes from tin or thick paper and put it on a baking sheet, greased once with oil.
Lubricate the gingerbread cookies with a beaten egg with water in a ratio of 1: 1 and put in the oven. Bake 5 - 7 minutes. Let the finished gingerbread cookies dry, then remove them from the baking sheet and decorate with icing.

In order to make the glaze colored, you can use natural dyes:

* white paint: powdered sugar, milk, sour cream;
* yellow: mix lemon zest with carrot juice and oil, fry for 3-5 minutes until softened and strain through cheesecloth;
* green: spinach juice;
* red and pink: juice of raspberries, strawberries, lingonberries, currants, cherries, pomegranates, boiled beets;
* orange: orange and tangerine juice;
* brown: cocoa powder.

The most ancient pastries are ritual roe gingerbread. That is, initially they were not gingerbread, as they appeared much earlier than spices in Russia. And there used to be roes figurines from unleavened dough, which were sculpted for the New Year, only Slavic, which coincided with the harvest festival and came in September. And only then the roes began to bake in the winter - and these cute gingerbread cookies became a symbol of our Orthodox Christmas. However, first things first.

Why goats?

“Roe deer are different,” tells us master class specialist and guide of the Museum of Russian Dessert, Svetlana Ustyugova. - "The first roes appeared on the Pomeranian land many centuries ago. They are considered the most ancient type of baked curly dough. There is chronicle evidence that back in the 12th century our ancestors sculpted figures of bulls and cows from dough. Gingerbreads were strips of dough woven into fancy For the twisted, serpentine shape, the ancient Pomeranian cookies got their name - kozuli, from the Pomeranian word "roe" - a snake, a curl.

Photo: AiF / Alexey Vissarionov

The image of the roe-snake was associated with the autumn harvest, or rather with its completion - with the autumn New Year or New Year (in September). Later, this tradition was transferred to the winter Christmas and the January New Year. And in the Kargopol region, roes were made in the form of serpentine curls folded into circles called “grouses” and baked in mid-March, which also refers to a very ancient rite dedicated to the spring equinox.
Pomors believed that such roe-snakes would bring wealth and prosperity to the house.

There are three types of roe: Kholmogory voluminous (resembling clay figurines), Kargopol roe-grouse and painted flat roe-gingerbread. The last, Arkhangelsk roes appeared in the Russian North when sugar and spices (cinnamon and cloves) came there, that is, they became available to ordinary people, and not just to the rich and noble. This happened not earlier than the 18th century.

In the old days, the production and painting of roes were largely ritual in nature, our ancestors believed in the protective power of fragrant gingerbread. Roe deer are both a charm and a talisman.

Today, Arkhangelsk roes are a beautiful fragrant edible souvenir, a great gift for any holiday or anniversary.

Gingerbread shapes have become diverse. There are houses, and hearts, and even cartoon characters.

Northern gingerbread

Photo: AiF / Alexey Vissarionov

Almost unchanged Pomeranian roes have survived to our time; these traditional small gingerbreads have been baked by the inhabitants of Pomorie for many centuries. It is assumed that the settlement of the White and Barents Seas took place in the 9th-11th centuries, where Pomors as a people were formed long time. These "persistent tin soldiers" lived a special way of life and everyday life, for a long time retained the pagan faith, believed in spirits, intrigues of evil spirits .... On Christmas Eve, Pomeranian roe deer, funny little figurines of animals and birds, were baked from rye flour.

Pomeranian roes all year (until the next Christmas) served as a talisman against evil forces, because it was believed that they have a positive effect on people's lives. They contribute to fishing, the well-being of the family, the health of people, livestock, poultry, keep happiness in the house .... Traditionally fresh rye dough for gingerbread, it was kneaded from coarse rye flour and water. Kneaded (rolled) the owner of the house, which had a certain ritual meaning. In addition, the kneading process is long and requires a lot of physical effort. The dough rolled up with a Poleshka had to stand without bending. Incorrect kneading led to cracking of the Pomeranian roe.

Men and women participated in the modeling of gingerbread, children learned the art of rolling roes. Entire herds of different animals: deer, cows, hard-horned rams, seals, elks, birds, went to the Russian stove. Pomeranian roes sculpted with prayers and sentences, people seemed to endow gingerbread animals with the ability to protect and protect. Each small figurine had a certain semantic meaning, for example, a deer with intertwined horns - a symbol of faith, hope, love, a cow brought prosperity, a bird with chicks on its back personified the happiness of motherhood.

Most often, Pomors sculpted deer, which, depending on the shape of the horns, had different semantic meanings. There were deer of friendship, health and longevity, spiritual protectors, deer of love and warmth. Ritual gingerbread cookies were given to relatives, loved ones, neighbors, children played Pomeranian goats, the owners gave gifts to carolers who went from house to house with good wishes. Girls guessed on Pomeranian roes, treated the guys. A few little protectors were left until next Christmas, in order to protect the home and family from misfortune. For a while, Pomeranian roe became members of the family and received names: Chernukha, Belyanka ...

There were bread figurines next to the icons, which proves the importance Pomors attached to ritual baking! Broken and old gingerbread cookies were never thrown away. Bread figurines were fed to cattle, in hungry years they could eat themselves. In each region, different roes were baked, differing in shape, there were Terek, Mezen, Kargopol, Kholmogory. Our Pomeranian roes made from rye dough are peasant ones.

Pomeranian peasant roes

Ingredients:
Rye flour
Water
Salt

Step 1. Gradually adding flour to the water, you need to knead a stiff dough. And salt it.
Step 2. Knead the dough very carefully. Make a sausage out of it.
Step 3. Let the dough rest overnight, you can keep it in the refrigerator for longer.
Step 4. Before sculpting, the dough must be kneaded and cut into small pieces.
Step 5. Blind a roe-deer, gradually pulling out the head, legs, horns from the main piece.
Step 6. Bake in the oven or oven for an hour, then dip in boiling water, then bake for another 20-30 minutes. Repeat scalding and baking until the roes are firm and glossy. Cool down.

In the old days there were many types of figurines, and each had its own meaning: they sculpted symbols of the Sun, Abundance, Health, Kindness. To make the toys look more festive, they were bleached: almost finished bread figures were taken out of the oven and dipped in boiling water, and then placed in a hot oven, this procedure was repeated more than once. Then the roe becomes lighter and acquires shine.

The components of the dough also had their own meaning: water - life, strength, purification, rye flour - health, wealth, salt - a talisman against all evil spirits.

How to sculpt

Modeling techniques are the same for all figures. The movements have been honed over the centuries, there are no superfluous ones. Even incisions in the process of roe sculpting should be no more than 17. This requirement was met by all Pomeranian craftsmen and was associated with the ritual nature of the figurines.

A sausage was made from the dough and divided into small pieces. An “egg” was made from a piece, then the sharp part of it was pulled out more and a “pear” was obtained. Pulling 1/3 from the "pear", received a "boot". With the help of the thumb and forefinger, the legs of the deer were pulled out. Then, incisions were made from the side of the abdomen, getting 4 legs. Their remaining top part was made by the head and horns.

Solombala roes

Photo: AiF / Alexey Vissarionov

600 g granulated sugar
500 g margarine
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 st. l. cinnamon
1 tbsp carnations
2.4 tsp soda (quench with vinegar)
2 kg flour

Burn a third of granulated sugar, pour 2 cups of boiling water into it gradually and add another 400 g of sand. Remove from heat, but stir in margarine and salt while still warm. Cool the resulting mass. Then add eggs, cinnamon and cloves, add soda, quenched with vinegar, lastly flour. Knead a stiff dough, cut it into pieces, roll out the pieces into cakes and you can cut out the figures.

Before baking, anoint products with yolk diluted with water (1/2 cup of water per yolk).

Ready-made roes are painted with colored glaze.

Glaze

Boil syrup from 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 cup of water (readiness to check with a ring - bubbles should be blown out of it);
- Pour 2 whipped egg whites into hot syrup and beat this mixture until it cools;
- add 2-3 drops of citric acid or vinegar essence and color with food coloring.

Murmansk roes

Dough:
600 g granulated sugar
150 g butter or cream margarine
3 eggs
Cloves, cinnamon, baking soda - 1 teaspoon each
1.2-1.3 kg of flour.

Burn a glass of granulated sugar in an enameled dish. When all the sugar has melted, add 1 cup of hot boiled water (slowly). Mix. Then add 2 more cups of granulated sugar. When everything boils and the sugar melts, turn it off. Add 150 g butter or margarine. When everything cools down a little, add 2 yolks and 1 whole egg, also add spices with water. Add flour (not all). Then pour the flour on the table and knead the dough. Put the dough in a bag and put it in the cold: in the cold outside or in the freezer. Can be stored up to 1 month. Cut the dough from the refrigerator into small pieces and knead well - so that it begins to shine. Do not add flour to this.

Roll out the dough with a thickness of 5 mm, cut out any figures and bake them in the oven. Lubricate the baking sheet not greasy, but a little bit so that the gingerbread cookies do not burn.

Glaze:
To make the frosting, beat 2 egg whites, slowly adding the powdered sugar until the frosting is thick. Put the icing in a bag (paper rolled up into a tube) and paint the gingerbread.

Arkhangelsk roes

Photo: AiF / Alexey Vissarionov

Burn 1 glass of granulated sugar, then dissolve it in a glass of hot water. Then add 2 cups of granulated sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Turn off the heat and add 150 g of butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, cloves and soda, cool slightly, add 1 egg and 2 yolks. After that, add about 0.5 kg of flour, knead the dough so that it does not stick to your hands. Keep the dough in a saucepan and cellophane in a cool place for a week. After that, add another 0.5 kg of granulated sugar to the dough and roll it out to a thickness of 0.5 cm. Cut the rolled out dough into shapes from tin or thick paper and put it on a baking sheet, greased once with oil.
Lubricate the gingerbread with an egg beaten with water in a ratio of 1: 1 and put in the oven. Bake 5 - 7 minutes. Let the finished gingerbread cookies dry, then remove them from the baking sheet and decorate with icing.

Arkhangelsk roes - aristocrats, painted with glaze, in the composition white flour, burnt sugar, cinnamon, cloves. To give icing sugar Pomors of different colors added juices of northern berries. Men also participated in the preparation of the Arkhangelsk ritual gingerbread. They kneaded the dough, bent the contour forms of figures of animals, birds from iron ... Flat Pomeranian deer were cut out of the rolled dough with molds. Decorated fragrant beautiful gingerbread with the whole family. Now Pomeranian roes have lost their ritual magical significance, although they are still a good gift.

What are goats? If you don’t know the exact answer, you will never guess that these are Arkhangelsk gingerbread decorated with multi-colored icing, baked from dough in the form of figures of birds and animals: horses, deer, cows and gobies, seals and goats.

We will talk about what roes are, about their history, about recipes and the intricacies of their preparation in this article.

The history of northern roes is long and beautiful. According to one version, the traditional pastry of the Pomors (peoples living on the coast of the White Sea) got its name because in the local dialect “kozulya” (sometimes they say “kozulya”) means “snake”, “curl”. According to another version, because gingerbread was most often baked in the shape of a goat, which has long been considered a symbol of prosperity and wealth in the house.

Arkhangelsk is considered the birthplace of these gingerbread. Although in various northern settlements tied to a particular area on a toponymic basis: Mezen settlements along the Mezen River, Kargopol settlements - the city of Kargopol and nearby villages, Terek settlements that settled on the Tersky coast of the White Sea, Kholmogory settlements - in the Kholmogory region, Arkhangelsk settlements - in Arkhangelsk - preserved own technique of baking roes (from a tourniquet or kolob).

Even roes cooked within the same region could differ from each other. The most famous of them:

Flat painted Arkhangelsk roes-gingerbread. They appeared in the Russian North no earlier than the 18th century, when many residents could use spices (cloves, cinnamon) and sugar that were previously inaccessible.
Kargopol roe-grouse, which, like the Mezen ones, unlike the Arkhangelsk gingerbread, are made from a bread tow. Instead of painted solid flat figures made from burnt sugar, “vitushki” are made in Kargopol. At the same time, the dough is stretched, rolled into thin sausages (no thicker than a pencil), and various twisted figures are laid out from it.

Volumetric Kholmogory roes (which, along with the Mezen ones, are considered the most ancient) were prepared from black dough, colored in some cases with white dough. In appearance, these are stylized figurines of a deer made of rye dough with a head depicting a bush decorated with apples and bird wings made of white dough, reminiscent of a winged sun from pagan culture.

Be that as it may, northern roes are not just a national delicacy, which the Pomors cooked in special ways, only for them. famous recipes but also a traditional ritual dish. Their preparation is a real ancient rite, in which a deep philosophical meaning was originally laid.

Painted gingerbread in ancient times was credited with magical powers. And, probably, they were originally conceived not at all as culinary dish(they were prepared from simple rye dough), but as ritual images of animals, which later became the basis for the appearance of delicious Pomeranian rich pastries.

This version is also confirmed by the fact that animal figurines from the dough had to be cut out in a certain way: they should look only to the left side. The human figurine was supposed to be turned forward. A strip symbolizing the earth was often left at the bottom of the gingerbread.

In ancient times, roe-gingerbread was baked strictly once a year: on the days of Christmas time and Christmas holidays. The northern peoples sincerely believed that Christmas roes would bring them good luck, wealth and prosperity. They were considered a talisman and were given for happiness to the whole family. Many signs and traditions are associated with them.

The whole family on the eve of the holidays took part in this event. Men kneaded the dough, women cut out curly gingerbread in the form of birds, animals, houses, Christmas trees, angels, sleighs and a Christmas star and baked. Children were not left idle: they actively helped in coloring and decorating them.

Read also: Lenten honey gingerbread with apples: cooking recipe

On Christmas, all relatives, neighbors, friends, caroling children received roe deer as a treat. It also fell to domestic animals, because it was believed that by eating such a Christmas gingerbread, domestic cattle would bring a rich offspring. For the northern peoples, who mainly lived at the expense of crafts and cattle breeding, this was important.

Roe deer hung as a talisman in barns and stables, protected their home from evil spirits, used as an indispensable attribute in divination on baptismal evenings. They, cooking with special love and diligence, were boasted in front of the guests. Christmas roes were not eaten right away, but kept for a long time (sometimes until the next holiday). A gingerbread figurine (even if it broke) could not be thrown away - this could bring bad luck.

Nowadays, the symbol of Pomorie is Christmas and New Year's gingerbread roes- they bake not only in Arkhangelsk and the region, but also in Murmansk and the Urals. Departing from strict ritual traditions, they are prepared for any home celebrations and holidays simply because it is delicious and unusual dessert. They decorate the Christmas tree, use them in carols and as toys for children.

And art critics, connoisseurs of folk art and artists, painted gingerbread, cooked according to old recipes in the lands of the Russian North, are considered an ethnographic rarity and a culinary work of folk art.

How to cook northern roes?

Gingerbread families strictly and secretly kept the methods of preparing dough, sugar glaze, decorative decoration of finished baking and own recipe roe with a "zest", which was inherited through the female line.

In the old days, such figures were baked in a special way: first they made dough from rye flour. Probably because the glaze pattern looked the most advantageous on a dark background. They took the darkest flour, added a little salt, kneaded it cool - and the dough was ready. Later, when preparing the dough from wheat flour, burnt sugar was added to the dough to get a dark brown color.

The dough for the goats was prepared in advance, and it could be kept in the cold for more than one week. However, from this, his properties only got better. Then figures of various shapes were cut out of it, which were also made in each family. And ready-made and cooled gingerbread cookies were painted with white and pink icing, obtained by adding cranberry or lingonberry juice.

In different regions, something of their own, local, was introduced into the recipes of Russian carved gingerbread. In the Pomor Arkhangelsk dough, an indispensable ingredient is a syrup made from burnt sugar (black molasses). Ural roes are cooked with honey. And, of course, various spices are used in all recipes, and finished products are certainly decorated with multi-colored glaze.

Yeast in the recipes of roes is completely absent, and therefore such painted gingerbread cookies with an amazing aroma of cinnamon and honey do not lose their flavor for a long time. taste qualities and do not deteriorate. On the contrary, after some time they become softer.

Hereditary Arkhangelsk gingerbread cookies claim that the most important thing that is required in their preparation is to do everything without haste, in a good mood, with good thoughts in the head, when no one and nothing will distract you for other things.

Let's try and cook a sweet Christmas treat according to one of the extant old recipes. This process, although fascinating, is very long and very difficult, requiring precision and accuracy. It consists of three main stages:

preparing the dough;
we bake;
decorate the finished gingerbread with icing.

Read also: Honey gingerbread: recipe according to GOST

honey deer

To prepare the gingerbread dough you will need:

Flour - 450 g (you can only take wheat flour, or you can mix two types: rye - 300 g, wheat - 150 g)
Water - 60 ml
Honey - 150 g
Baking soda - 1 tsp (quench with vinegar)
Butter - 3 tbsp. l.
Sugar - 150 g
Ground spices - cinnamon, cloves on the tip of a spoon (you can also take nutmeg, cardamom, ginger).

We bake gingerbread:

Cooking zhzhenka (it is best to do this in a bowl with a thick bottom) - melt the sugar over a medium-intensity fire. When all the sugar melts and turns brown, pour boiling water into the container in small portions (we do this carefully - you can burn yourself with the hot steam generated during this and protect your eyes from strongly foaming and splashing heated sugar). Add honey, stirring constantly. The result is a sweet thick syrup.
In a slightly cooled syrup (up to 70 degrees), add butter and stir until a homogeneous creamy caramel mass is obtained.
Add soda, spices to the chilled mass and mix again.
Gradually pour the pre-sifted flour into the prepared mixture and stir so that there are no lumps in the dough (first you can use a wooden spatula).
Knead the dough on the board, pouring flour in small portions (excess flour can make it too tight). The dough should turn out elastic, soft, resembling plasticine in consistency, very fragrant and tasty even when raw.

Kneading the dough is a laborious and long process. But without this, gingerbread cookies may crack during baking.

The finished dough must be kept in the cold before baking (if you are in a hurry, at least a couple of hours, but it is better to leave it for a day).

If you do not plan to use all the dough at once, you can send it in a bag for a while in the refrigerator. Before baking, let it rest at room temperature.

Next, cutting off pieces of dough, roll out the layer (thickness from 2-3 mm to 1 cm) on a cutting board sprinkled with flour. Crispy and thin gingerbread will be obtained from more thin dough. More tender and fluffy - thicker dough. This dough is also suitable for baking a gingerbread house.
Carefully cut out the figures with a knife along the contour of pre-prepared original templates (stencils of angels, figures of animals, Santa Clauses, snowmen can be made independently from thick paper or cardboard), laying them out on rolled out dough, or cut them out with ready-made molds.

If you want to use your gingerbread figurines as Christmas decorations, you can make small holes in them, where a ribbon is threaded after baking.

Figurines greased with yolk and water: ½ cup of water and 1 yolk (egg grease gives Christmas roes a glossy shine and appetizing look), lay out on a baking sheet covered with baking parchment.

We leave a little space between the figures, because the roes will rise a little when baking. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 200 degrees (but in general, be guided by your oven). Gingerbread figures should be browned, but it is important not to overcook them in the oven (they can dry out, become hard and crack).

After our gingerbread blanks have completely cooled down, we proceed to decorate them and paint them with colored icing.

Ural goat recipe

It is assumed that the Ural roes are descendants of the northern roes. They came to the Urals along with immigrants from the North. Their recipe was slightly modified taking into account local culture and traditions: sugar was completely or partially replaced by honey.

The main feature of local gingerbread is that they turned out to be colorful, bright and certainly fragrant. Their honey-spicy aroma carried far beyond the place where they were baked. Ural gingerbread men make special dough for their baking and mold figures from small pieces.