Recipes

Advent Calendar – Spelt Gingerbread Cookies

Sweet Christmas Spelled

Prepare fragrant gingerbread cookies from honey spelt dough, which, after resting in a cool place, gain a perfectly soft texture and full spicy flavor. A mixture of sugar, oil, eggs, and honey forms the base, into which dry ingredients and crushed almonds are incorporated. Let the dough rest to allow all the flavors to develop. Decorate the gingerbread with delicate egg white icing and marzipan shapes, making them an original Advent or Christmas treat that won't last long on the table. Will you try a gingerbread Advent calendar this year?

Ingredients

Dough 1 - Classic

100 g whole grain spelt flour Nominal
100 g plain spelt flour Nominal
1 egg (M)
75 g powdered sugar
60 g vegetable oil
40 g liquid honey
1 tablespoon gingerbread spice (mix according to your taste, you can also add a bit of ground pepper)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Optional: 1/2 teaspoon crushed dried orange peel

Dough 2 – With Almonds

100 g whole grain spelt flour Nominal
100 g plain spelt flour Nominal
75 g powdered sugar
40 g honey
70 g vegetable oil
1 egg (M)
2.5 g baking soda
1 tablespoon gingerbread spice (approx. 10 g)
50 g almonds (roughly chopped)

Dough 3 – With Buckwheat Flour

100 g whole grain spelt flour Nominal
80 g plain buckwheat flour
20 g plain spelt flour Nominal
1 egg (M)
70 g vegetable oil
75 g powdered sugar
40 g honey
2.5 g baking soda
1 tablespoon gingerbread spice (approx. 10 g)

For Decoration:

Sunflower seeds, pieces of almonds...
Egg yolk for brushing after baking

For Icing:

140 g powdered sugar + 1 egg white

For Finishing:

About 150 g marzipan
2 tablespoons jam for sticking

For this recipe you need the following products:

First, prepare the dough. In a bowl, combine sugar, oil, eggs, and liquid honey. Mix everything well until a smooth mixture is formed. In another bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and gradually incorporate them into the dough. You can use store-bought gingerbread spice, but if you prefer a truly fragrant homemade mix, simply crush in a mortar ingredients like star anise, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, or anise. One tablespoon is the absolute minimum – if you enjoy a strong gingerbread flavor, feel free to add more. Finally, mix in the crushed almonds.
Store the finished dough in a sealed container and let it rest in a cool place. It needs at least one day, but even several days will only benefit it.
You can prepare the marzipan shapes a day in advance. Roll out the marzipan into a thin sheet and use the same cutters as for the gingerbread to shape the pieces. Then, let them dry on a flat surface.
Roll out the rested dough to approximately 4 mm thick and cut out shapes. You can decorate them with seeds – in that case, they don't need icing. Bake in an oven preheated to 170–180 °C for about 8 minutes. It's important not to overbake them. While still hot, gently brush the gingerbread with beaten egg yolk to give them a nice shine.
For the icing, first, carefully sift 140 g of powdered sugar. Even the smallest crystals need to be removed. Mix the sugar with one egg white (about 30 g) and beat until a smooth, white, and thick mixture is formed. If it's too thick, you can thin it with a few drops of lemon juice. Use the icing to write numbers on the selected gingerbread pieces.
Once the icing dries, join the gingerbread with the corresponding marzipan shape using a small amount of jam.

Tip: If you're only writing numbers on the gingerbread, you can manage with half the amount of icing.