Have you ever heard of what a goat is? It turns out that these are traditional Arkhangelsk gingerbread, which have their own long and beautiful history. The process of their preparation turned into a whole rite. And this interesting name they got it due to the fact that most often gingerbread was made in the form of goat figurines.
Arkhangelsk roes: origin story
Roe deer are native to Arkhangelsk. They have their own special old recipe. Among the ancient Pomors, these gingerbreads were considered ritual. They baked them only once a year - during Christmas time. For this event, all family members gathered, and the men helped knead the dough. The women cut out the gingerbread cookies, baked them, molded them, and the children helped to decorate them.
Arkhangelsk roes were baked most often in the form of animal figures, because the northern peoples lived only at the expense of cattle breeding and crafts. The preparation of such gingerbread promised a successful hunt and offspring. In general, it was believed that such a figurine protects the house from all evil spirits. Therefore, they were not eaten immediately and not thrown away, but kept for a long time.
Different regions had their own traditional recipes. They were kept with special trepidation and no one was initiated into them.
How were goats painted?
Arkhangelsk roe gingerbreads were decorated with colored sweet glaze. Basically, two colors were used: white and pink. White symbolized the snow, and pink - the northern lights. The gingerbread itself was brown - the color of wood and earth.
ancient traditions
In ancient times, roe deer were believed to have magical powers. There were certain traditions for carving these products. For example, animal figurines should look only to the left side, and people - in front. Often a strip was made at the bottom of the product, it symbolized the earth.
Ritual images from dough were the prototype of gingerbread. In general, today molded painted gingerbread is a very large ethnographic rarity that is still preserved in the lands of the Russian North. Such figurines were baked in a special way: they made dough, then molded roes and put them in a cold place for a whole day, and only then they baked them to a golden crust. Ready-made gingerbread cookies were dipped several times in boiling water - supposedly this made them smoother, stronger and lighter. Thanks to this special recipe, ancient specimens of roes have come down to us. In ancient times they were placed in front of the icons, each was given its own name, so that the owners would have happiness and prosperity in the house. In addition, they were a source of pride, they boasted to the guests, so they were cooked with special diligence and love. Later, the roe became an oven for sale. It was done by the whole family. Men made molds, cutters, women kneaded the dough, cut out figures and baked them, and even decorated everything together with the children. Each family had its own cooking recipes, which were kept in the strictest confidence and passed down from generation to generation only to their relatives.
Arkhangelsk roes are nothing but a work of folk art. They have their own ancient history, which is of great interest to art historians, artists, lovers and connoisseurs of folk art.
Arkhangelsk roes: recipe
As we said earlier, each clan had its own recipe for cooking roes, which was kept secret. Over time, they were supplemented, changed, improved. However, our time has come down to a lot and old recipes. One of them, the most universal, we want to tell you.
For the test, we need to purchase the following products:
- Sugar - 0.8 kg.
- Boiled water - a little more than a 250-gram glass.
- Chicken eggs - 3 pcs.
- Yolks chicken eggs- 5 pieces.
- Butter - 2 packs (preferably 0.45 kg).
- Wheat flour - up to two kilograms.
- Salt - 1 teaspoon.
- Baking soda - 2 teaspoons.
- Ground spices - cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg. All of them are added in a ratio of 2:1:1:1:1.
It turns out 3.5 kg of dough. From it you can fashion up to a hundred small gingerbread cookies or up to fifty large ones.
Step by step cooking instructions
The dough for the Arkhangelsk roes is made on the basis of zhzhenka (as it is called). You need to take 0.4 kg of sugar and put it on a cold thick-walled frying pan with high edges. Put it on a strong fire, heat it up. When the sugar starts to melt from below, make the fire less. Gradually you need to bring the contents until completely dissolved, stirring actively.With caramel, you need to be more careful and not overexpose it on fire.It should acquire a pleasant brownish tint and in no case should it smell burnt.
As soon as the caramel is made, immediately pour water into it in small parts, stirring vigorously. Be careful not to lean over the pan. Water with caramel will hiss and gurgle strongly. After pouring out all the water, stir the sweet mass over low heat until completely dissolved. The result is a syrup. You pour two more cups of sugar into it and stir so that it also dissolves to a state of a homogeneous brownish transparent syrup.
Then put chopped butter in a frying pan, dissolve it over low heat. At first, it will float on the surface of the liquid. Remove the pan from the heat and stir for a couple of minutes. We cool.
Next, in a small saucepan, beat five yolks and three eggs. Pour the mass into our syrup and mix. Add soda, salt, all spices. We remind you that we take two parts of cinnamon, and the rest - only one part. Of course, all proportions can be changed at your discretion. A lot of spices were generally put into traditional roes. It all depends on your taste and desire.
Prepare sifted flour. Gradually add it to our mixture, stirring with a spatula. The dough should be soft and elastic. It is very important not to put a lot of flour. Otherwise, the base will be very tight. Close the pan with a lid or cling film. We put it at night in a cold place (refrigerator, for example). You can even divide the dough into pieces, put them in bags, put them in the refrigerator if you do not plan to bake all the gingerbread at once.
If you want to bake Arkhangelsk roes on the same day, then you can let the dough cool, and then put it in the freezer for half an hour.
After the dough has matured, it will become dense, very elastic and will not stick to the hands (plasticine consistency).
Cut out the figures
To cook, you can use any molds. And for the manufacture of original figurines of animals, angels, snowmen, Santa Claus, you need to independently prepare patterns for stencils made of cardboard or thick paper. You won't find these cookies in stores. These will be real Arkhangelsk roes.
If you want to get thin and crispy gingerbread cookies, then roll out the dough no thicker than two or three millimeters. And if you prefer lush and tender, then up to one centimeter. Next, cut out the figures with cookie cutters, if you have them. And don't forget that animals always look to the left.
Those who have made their own patterns lay them on the rolled out dough and carefully cut along the outline with a knife.
Then cover the baking sheet with baking parchment and lay out the figures. We will bake them at two hundred degrees for no more than fifteen minutes. They dry out very quickly, so be careful not to overdo them. Wrap finished products in a towel, and when cool - put in a box. So we cooked the Arkhangelsk roes. Their recipe is not very simple, and it will take a lot of time to spend, but what a result!
It remains only to decorate our gingerbread.
How to prepare glaze for painting?
How to prepare glaze? Arkhangelsk roes must be painted. There are an incredible number of recipes. We will give an example of one of the options.
Stock up on these products:
- Egg white - 1 pc.
- Powdered sugar - 0.2 kg.
- Lemon juice (freshly squeezed) - 3-4 drops.
- (preferably natural).
This amount of products is enough to paint fifteen gingerbread cookies.
How to paint goats?
How to decorate the Arkhangelsk roes? Painting is perhaps the most difficult in the process of their manufacture. You can use a culinary syringe, or you can simply roll the bag in the form of a cone with a hole. Remember that the lines should be thin and neat. You can make any patterns. There are no restrictions here. Get creative and start drawing. You can use ethnic motifs or come up with something of your own.
More beautiful are those gingerbread cookies that are first filled with completely liquid glaze, and only then the drawings are applied to the frozen base. This option is more correct, but also more complicated. And yes, it will take more time.
To make the roes bright, add to the icing food colorings or natural.
natural dyes
Speaking about the Arkhangelsk roes (we painted a cooking master class), we will pay attention to what can be made from colored glaze based on natural dyes. We offer such alternative substitutes from natural products:
- White color - sugar, milk, sour cream.
- Yellow is lemon peel.
- Green - spinach juice, lime zest.
- Red and pink - juice of raspberries, strawberries, currants, lingonberries, pomegranates, boiled beets.
- Orange - orange,
- Brown - cocoa powder.
Instead of an afterword
If you were struck by the beauty and history of northern gingerbread, be sure to try to bake such a miracle for the holidays, please yourself and your children. Let baking kozul become a pleasant tradition in your family. It's so wonderful when on the eve of the holiday the house smells delicious!
Everyone knows from childhood what gingerbread is. We offer to cook them yourself, based on the recipe for gingerbread "Kozuli"
Ingredients:
For test:
1. Butter - 1 pack (200 gr)
3. Eggs - 3 pcs
4. Sugar - 2 tbsp
5. Water - 3/4 tbsp
6. Salt - 1 pinch
7. Soda - 1 tsp
8. A mixture of spices (ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom) - 3 tsp.
For glaze (icing):
1. Powdered sugar - 200 gr
2. Egg - 1 pc
Cooking method:
1. First, caramel is boiled. To do this, it is better to take a pan or stewpan with a thick bottom. Pour 1 cup of sugar there and put on a slow fire. Sugar must be stirred so that it does not burn. After the sugar has turned dark brown, you need to pour boiling water there very carefully.
The mixture must be stirred. When the mixture is homogeneous, pour the rest of the sugar there and keep on fire until it dissolves. Then remove from the stove.
2. While the mass is hot, butter is introduced into it.
3. When stirring, a homogeneous mass is obtained - this is a creamy caramel.
4. Spices are usually mixed in equal proportions. They are also added to the still hot caramel and mixed thoroughly. The mixture is then allowed to cool.
5. Beat 1 egg and 2 yolks in a bowl.
6. The egg mixture is mixed with warm caramel.
7. Salt and soda are added to the resulting mixture.
8. Then we gradually introduce. For starters, it is better to use a whisk.
9. As the mass thickens, you will have to take a tablespoon.
10. You need to knead the dough until it becomes homogeneous and stops sticking to your hands.
11. A bar is formed from the dough, wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for about a day.
12. The finished bar is cut into pieces.
14. Then cut out the gingerbread. To do this, you can use special molds or make templates yourself.
15. If templates are used, they are superimposed on the dough layer and cut along the contour with a sharp knife.
16. Baking paper is placed on a baking sheet, and workpieces are placed on it. Gingerbread cookies are baked in a well-heated oven at a temperature of 200-220 degrees for about 5-7 minutes.
17. I made two types of gingerbread, so when the first batch of roes is ready, I send the second batch of another type to the oven.
18. After the gingerbread is pulled out of the oven, they need to cool down. If desired, you can make holes in some and use as a decoration for the Christmas tree.
19. While the gingerbread is cooling down, you can start preparing the glaze (icing). To do this, beat the egg white with powdered sugar with a mixer or whisk. The resulting glaze is placed in a confectionery syringe or bag and the gingerbread is painted. You can add different dyes to the glaze, then the gingerbread cookies will turn out even more attractive and picturesque. I hope you liked the Kozuli gingerbread recipe.
Additional Information:
Almost everyone associates gingerbread with Tula, which is famous for these culinary products. However, the Arkhangelsk region is rightfully proud of its goats. They got their name from the Pomeranian word for "curl" or "snake". Usually these are figurines of animals, trees or houses, decorated with multi-colored glaze.
They baked such gingerbread for New Year's or family holidays, such as a wedding or the birth of a child. Over time, goats began to decorate Christmas trees. According to popular beliefs, such roes were supposed to bring wealth and prosperity to the house.
Since ancient times, people baked various sweets for the holidays. For a birthday - a cake, for Easter - Easter cakes, for a wedding - a loaf. But at Christmas they baked roes.
What are these sweets?
Kozuli is a traditional Christmas cookies from rye or wheat flour. Most often it was made in the form of a goat, horse, sheep, cow, deer. The goat has always been considered a symbol of wealth and prosperity in the home, and making cookies in the shape of this animal symbolized prosperity.
On Christmas holidays, all relatives, friends, neighbors and caroling children received roe biscuits for treats. The recipe for such sweets was inherited. In each family, roes were baked with their own “zest”. After all, not only people were treated to Christmas cookies, but they were also fed to pets. People believed that after that the cattle became very prolific. In addition, roes were hung in a stable or barn as a talisman, and also used for divination on Epiphany evening.
Goat biscuits. Recipe one
For cooking you will need:
- 5 cups sugar (in dough and glaze);
- 2.5 glasses of water;
- 3 eggs (in the dough);
- 5 yolks (in the dough);
- 2 squirrels (in glaze).
- 1/2 teaspoon salt;
- 2 tablespoons of soda;
- 2-3 tablespoons of spices (cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon);
- 2 drops vinegar essence(in glaze);
- 1.8-2 kg of flour.
Preparation of dough and making goats
On low heat in a thick bowl (preferably a heavy-bottomed pan), melt 2 cups of sugar (until brown). Then slowly pour in 1.5 cups of boiling water. The water in the bowl should boil strongly and steam. It is better not to lean low over the pan so as not to burn your face. It is necessary to constantly stir the mass with a wooden spoon. Dissolve everything in Add the same amount of sugar (2 cups), stir and let it dissolve completely. Next, you can remove the syrup from the heat and add 350 g of margarine (butter). Pour the whole mass into a large saucepan and let cool.
While the syrup is cooling, beat 5 yolks and 3 whole eggs in a separate cup (as for an omelette). Pour the egg mixture into the cooled syrup. Add salt, spices (you can taste) and soda. Sift the flour, then gradually pour into the sugar mixture. Flour should be poured in the way the roe deer recipe requires, even if the dough seems liquid. Otherwise, the products will be rigid. Ready dough put in a cool place for one day.
After the allotted time, roll it out about a centimeter thick and cut out your favorite figures (you can make the necessary templates in advance). You need to bake products at a temperature of 180 degrees.
Glaze
And for the goats? We will now consider the recipe for its preparation. First you need to beat two proteins into a tight foam. Make syrup from a glass of water and sugar. Remove the boiling syrup from the heat and pour the egg whites into it. Beat with a mixer until thick (15-25 minutes). At the end, pour in the essence. If you want, you can add dye. After that, you can decorate the finished roes with icing.
To make the cookies soft and tasty, it is better to make them large and not very thin. And most importantly, do not overdry the dough in the oven! Then you get real, "magic" Christmas roes, traditional recipe which is now known to you!
Other products
They also bake roe gingerbread. What are these products and where did they come from? Gingerbread appeared in the north of Arkhangelsk. In those ancient times, they were baked only on New Year and Christmas. They cut out gingerbread in the form of figures of animals, birds, an angel, a Christmas tree, houses, a Christmas star or a sleigh. The recipe for roes was handed down from grandmothers to mothers and has come down to this day. There are also separate family forms of roe deer, both ancient and new, modern.
The northerners believed that roes attract good luck. If, for example, a young girl herself makes a gingerbread and gives it to a single guy, then soon she will definitely become a bride. But it was customary to give the largest roe to the whole family for happiness. She was considered a guardian. Most often, roes were baked in the oven. But in the 30s of the past century, they began to use a different method: before putting the figurine in the oven, they began to lower it for a couple of minutes in boiling water in order to preserve the shape of the gingerbread.
The main secret of making roes is to make the dough with love, in a good mood and without haste. It is best to start kneading in the late evening, before going to bed.
gingerbread dough
And what about goats? Its recipe is clear to everyone. For cooking you will need:
- 2-2.5 kg of sifted flour;
- two eggs;
- a pack of margarine or butter;
- a tablespoon of soda slaked with vinegar;
- spices to taste (cloves, ginger, cinnamon);
- 3-4 cups of sugar.
Cooking
Glaze for goats. Recipe
First, we’ll tell you how it’s done. You need to carefully beat one protein. Next, you need to gradually add powdered sugar (a glass) and a few drops of lemon for shine. Pink glaze is prepared as follows: first you need to separate a little white glaze and drop raw beet juice into it, and then mix until a uniform shade.
Gingerbread cookies can be decorated with a brush, match, stick or pastry bag. Everything depends on fantasy. It is better not to fill products with glaze, but to draw intricate New Year's patterns. The glaze recipe can be slightly diversified by adding carrot juice, cocoa or dyes to the cream.
Third recipe
Of course, these are not the only roe gingerbreads. The recipe for another magical pastry will help cook such sweet products a little faster. For cooking you will need:
- sugar - 800 g;
- glass of water;
- margarine (butter) - 150 g;
- spices (cinnamon, cloves);
- soda - a teaspoon;
- 3 eggs;
- flour.
Cooking gingerbread
Melt one glass of sugar on fire and dissolve it in a glass hot water. After pour two more glasses of sand and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and put butter (about 150 g), a teaspoon of cinnamon and soda into the syrup. Cool and add one egg and two yolks. After pour 0.5 kg of flour and knead hard dough. Keep it in a cold place. After adding another half a kilogram of granulated sugar and roll into a layer 50 mm thick. Cut out animal figures and place on a sheet greased with oil.
Spread the gingerbread with egg and water and put in the oven. Bake for about 7 minutes. Finished products must dry.
How to prepare in this case the glaze for goats? The recipe is almost the same as usual. For cooking you will need:
- two proteins;
- powdered sugar;
- dye or juice of berries and vegetables.
Whisk two egg whites and icing sugar (5-7 tablespoons) to a stiff peak. Add or juice of cranberries, beets, blueberries, lingonberries, carrots. Mix well until smooth. Dye should be added until the desired color is obtained. After you can decorate the gingerbread with icing.
Conclusion
Many do not even suspect that there are such delicious and unusual roe gingerbread. Some have seen or tried this pastry, but did not know its name. Now you understand how to make real Christmas roes, the recipe of which is presented in the article, which means that you yourself can not only try, but also bake these amazing figurines. Children love them the most. After all, gingerbread is so similar to fairy-tale toys that bring joy and faith in a miracle on New Year's Eve. And, by the way, there is no such holiday when it would be impossible to decorate the dinner table with gingerbread goats! Whatever recipe for roes you choose, bake them with love, kindness and faith in the best! Dare - and everything will work out for you!
Ecology of consumption. Manufacturing recipes Arkhangelsk gingerbread- goat - a lot. 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 every new year.
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 every 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 long process that includes three stages:
1. Test preparation.
2. Baking.
3. 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 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 precision. 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. Making 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.
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 while constantly stirring the resulting mixture with a spoon. We do this very slowly and carefully, without haste.
Step 4. Add the butter cut into pieces into 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 pot. 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. Put 1 tablespoon of baking soda in the same pan (quench 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. Dough kneading. 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, we say good wishes to ourselves to those people who will eat these gingerbread cookies, we 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.
A 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. Cut out roes from the dough and bake
For baking gingerbread, you will need: molds or cardboard templates for cutting out figures, a rolling pin.
You can download 65 ready-made templates for gingerbread for free in the article "Stencils for gingerbread" on my website "Native Path" - http://rodnaya-tropinka.ru/trafarety-dlya-pryanikov/. 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. Cut off pieces from the dough and roll them out with a rolling pin into layers about 5 mm thick, no more.
Step 3. Using a cardboard template or using ready-made shapes, 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 ruddy at the same time. 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 roes will wrinkle in the future and look ugly, uneven. Each oven has its own "character" - so be sure to note the time your goats were in the oven the first time you bake. 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 glaze you will need: 1 protein, 1 lemon, 1 raw beets, 1 glass of powdered sugar (pre-sift through a sieve). You can buy powdered sugar or make your own from granulated sugar.
Step 1. Beat one protein with a mixer or whisk. 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. We drip a few drops of lemon juice into the icing. 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. We prepare pink icing. 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 food colorings are also added 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. Decorate the 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 (from childhood I painted 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.
A 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 dried yet. 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. published
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
In the old days, roes were baked from rye flour to get a characteristic dark color, on which the glaze design 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 with the help of lingonberry or cranberry juice.
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 for a 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 sheep, seals, elks, birds, went to the Russian furnace. 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.
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 strongly 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
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 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.
