With the end of the year, I sadly have to say goodbye to my food column, which I have been writing monthly for over two years for the customer magazine by supermarket chain Globus, called Mio. The column was a lot of fun for me every month, particularly because I was already taken food shopping at Globus when I was a little child.
With my pregnancy slowly coming to its end, a lot – if not everything – will change for me next year. Also, Globus wished for some change, which is absolutely fair I think, so, my column won’t be continued in the next month. I must admit, it does make me a little sad though!
However, I have at least created an amazing recipe to finish with, one for deliciously moist and nutty Eliten ginger bread. They are garnished with three kinds of icing – a sugar icing, a dark chocolate coating and an icing sugar coating – obviously, you may choose just one way to decorate your ginger breads. Just remember to upscale the quantities in that case!
The recipe is also available on the Mio website.
How are your Christmas baking activities going? Have you started making all sorts of sweet treats?
I am sending you pre-christmassy hugs and hope you have a lovely advent season!
Love,
Lea Lou
Homemade Elisen ginger bread with three kinds of icing
For approx. 18 ginger breads.
18 wafers
30 g candied orange peel
30 g candied lemon peel
2 organic eggs, size M
100 g sugar
100 g marzipan, roughly grated
Salt
150 g ground almonds, unpeeled
25 g flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch cloves, ground or crushed in a pestle and mortar
1 pinch ginger, ground
1 pinch cardamom, ground or crushed in a pestle and mortar
1 tsp grated lemon zest
To decorate:
Whole almonds, peeled
Sugar pearls
For the sugar icing:
80 g sugar
2 tbsp water
For the chocolate coating:
80 g dark chocolate coating
For the icing sugar coating:
100 g icing sugar
1–1,5 tbsp water
Method:
Preheat oven to 150°C (130°C fan). Line two baking trays with baking paper. Divide the wafers evenly over the two baking trays.
Finely chop candied orange and lemon peel.
Separate the eggs.
Whisk egg yolks with sugar, marzipan and a pinch of salt to a crumbly, sticky mixture. Add orange and lemon peel, stir.
In a separate bowl, mix almonds, flour and spices. Mix with the egg yolk mixture.
Whisk egg whites until stiff and gently fold into the ginger bread batter.
Transfer the batter into a piping bag, then divide the batter over the prepared wafers. Using your hands or a spoon, even out the batter on the wafers, leaving out a 0,5cm rim on the sides (because the ginger breads will dissolve a little in the oven).
Bake the ginger breads in the hot oven for 20–25 minutes, swapping the trays after 10 minutes. You should aim for golden brown, soft and gooey ginger breads. Don’t overbake them!
Transfer the ginger breads to a wire rack and allow them to cool. Remove any parts of the wafers which overlook the ginger breads.
For the sugar icing, mix sugar with water. Spread 1/3 of the ginger breads with the icing, then decorate the ginger breads with three whole almonds each. Allow the icing to harden.
For the chocolate coating, melt the dark chocolate coating over a hot water bath. Dip 1/3 of the ginger breads into the melted chocolate, decorate the chocolate with almonds and allow the chocolate to harden.
Finally, for the icing sugar coating, mix icing sugar with 1 tbsp water (add a little more water if necessary). Spread the icing onto the remaining third of the ginger breads, and decorate them with sugar pearls. Allow the icing to harden.
Transfer the ginger breads to a tin or tupper ware, and store them for up to three weeks.
