Gingerbread has been around for a long time, but the recipes used to make it have changed considerably over the years. Initially, gingerbread was made with breadcrumbs, ginger, and a sweetener, such as honey. People discovered that ginger has preservative properties and used it accordingly.
The gingerbread recipe changed, and by the 15th century (1400), breadcrumbs had been replaced by flour. The honey was replaced by molasses. The biscuit became lighter. Some recipes made sweet, thin ginger chips and others were thicker and cookie-like.
Pictorial scenes that told stories were carved on wood and gingerbread was rolled and pressed into them.
It first became figures (like people) in the 16th century (1500). Queen Elizabeth I of England is credited with creating the first gingerbread men.
Queen Elizabeth was Queen of England from November 1558. (She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.) Queen Elizabeth was known for having well-dressed courtiers at her court. She is credited with the first gingerbread men. The story goes that she made and decorated gingerbread cookies to resemble her favorite courtiers, and gave them as gifts.
Gingerbread men tend to have vague shapes. For example, the legs do not have defined feet, and they certainly do not have toes. The arms don’t have definite arms, and they definitely don’t have fingers. Gingerbread women have an equally simple design. Gingerbread expands when baked, even recipes without eggs. Consequently, cookies work best when they are not too detailed.
Detail work comes into play when you decorate these cookies.
So, the gingerbread men and women needed houses, chairs, tables, beds, cars, trees, and cattle that are also made of gingerbread, and the bakers created them.
The Grimm brothers wrote Hansel and Gretel in 1812. The story told of a witch who wanted to eat the children, Hansel and Gretel. She fattened them up with candies and other sweets, and the children ate a gingerbread house. Gingerbread houses became popular at this time, especially in Germany.
Gingerbread houses are popular in the United States and many parts of Europe, but strangely enough, not in England. These houses are most common during the Christmas season, but they work well for any other holiday as well. Valentine’s Day houses are decorated with pink, red and white candies. Halloween houses have ghosts crawling out of them and are often built “badly” on purpose. The only limits with gingerbread houses are your imagination and the size of your cookie sheets. (I like to design one or two each year from tiles. Remember gingerbread is thicker than paper, but piece the cards together into whatever kind of house you can design.)
My favorite recipe for gingerbread houses is called “the alternate recipe.” I replace the shortening with butter and use corn syrup instead of molasses.
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