“Food in history” by Rey Tannahill is my most helpful resource of where many of our foods initiated. Out of the neolithic era were born the first great civilizations. The people of the Indus Valley ate wheat and barley and the filed pea, cooked their food in sesame oil, and seasoned it with mustard or, tumeric or ginger. By the second century A.D. caravans regularly left the Chinese city of Lo-yang with silk, ginger, cassia( a type of cinnamon) towards the CentraL Asia, where exotic spices were bartered for all the Rome could provide in exchange for glassware, pottery, gold, silver, coral beads, or grape wine the emperor.

In Ayurvedic medicine, ginger is called the “universal medicine”, because it has the ability to heal such a wide range of ailments. The plant’s spicy rhizome (underground stem) stimulates the circulation to create warmth and overall feeling of well being. It also aids every part of the digestive system process, reduces joint inflammation and treats nausea.

This recipe requires the dough to develop in the fridge at least for a week. The Fresh ginger is sweeter, more pungent, and has an overall more complex flavor than ground ginger. Once the cookies are baked,the longer you keep the cookies in the jar the better they taste!

Yield: 24-30 cookies

Tools: cookie cutters of your choice

Tools To Make Royal Icing:

• Bain-marie (or a heat-proof bowl situated over a pot of simmering water) Whisk

• Stand mixer with whisk attachment or handheld electric mixer

• 2-3 piping bags and 2-3 piping tips by Wilton # 5

Ingredients:

• 220 g soft unsalted butter

• 220 g dark brown sugar

• 260 g organic molasses

• 2 egg yolks

• 500 g flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 3 tsp grated fresh peeled ginger

• 1 tsp ground cloves

• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1/2 tsp sea salt

• Royal icing: 2 egg whites and 480 g icing sugar + food coloring (optional if you wish not to decorate the cookies)

Instructions:

1. Cream butter, sugar, molasses, egg yolk together until light.

2. Mix all dry ingredients together. Add to butter mixture and well combine.Stir in the fresh ginger.

3. Place it in the clay/pottery bowl or glass dish. Cover well with parchment paper and well fitted lid.

4. Place dough in the fridge for at least a week.

5. Take out the dough and divide into 4 pieces. Roll out the chilled dough, one piece at the time on a floured surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes (or whatever cookie cutter shape you're using) about 0.4 cm thick.

6. Preheat the oven to 350°F or 175°C

7. Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake for about 10-12 minutes.Cool on the tray.

8. Prepare royal icing.

9. Need to know: Royal icing is like cement for the sugar craft and baking world. It is the delicious edible glue that bonds gingerbread houses together, used to pipe fancy, elegant decorations on cakes and cookies. So, it is really important to know how to make it. Unless you want to buy the royal icing powder which has at least 12 ingredients versus homemade has only 2 ingredients!

10. Firstly treat the egg whites with heat before beating them. If you are concerned about using raw egg whites as I am, you can cook the royal icing to 150°F (66°C) over a bain-marie (water bath), for three minutes or until it is hot to the touch and the the icing sugar has dissolved. Take off the water bath and continue whipping until is stiff for piping.

    Optional: Add gel food/powered food colours.

11. Transfer to a piping bag with a piping tip.

12. Pipe frosting on cookies and decorate with decorative candies, if desired.

13. Allow frosting to harden before enjoying it. It takes 10-12 hours to dry on the cookie rack.

14. Next Day: Transfer to a large glass jar or Cookie Tin well covered. No need to refrigerate the cookies.

Merry Christmas! Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia! Joyeux Noël!