photo by Proofofthepudding.
 

Well, look who the fox dragged in!

No Cookie Party would be complete without the most famous Christmas cookie of them all. I would have featured the Gingerbread Man earlier, but I’ll be danged if I didn’t have the hardest time catching up with the little rascal! I had to promise to bake him a gingerbread girlfriend before he’d agree to spend a little time with us.

The Bread

You know, I’m surprised the G Man can still walk, let alone run. He’s been around such a long time. In the 11th century, the Crusaders brought ginger to Europe from the Middle East. Its medicinal powers were well known even then, and when the spice was used in bread it acted as a preservative. 

The first gingerbread was actually a baked block of honey, breadcrumbs, ginger, and other spices. It was elaborately decorated and given away as gifts. Beautifully carved wooden molds (some pretty large), were pressed onto the gingerbread in the designs of pigs, hearts, men, rabbits, and fleur-de-lis. They would then be painted with saffron or cinnamon, or even gilded.

By the mid 16th century, treacle (molasses) replaced honey, and flour replaced breadcrumbs. Soon eggs and butter were added, giving the gingerbread more of a cake-like texture. Queen Elizabeth I is credited with the first actual man-shaped cookie, since she liked to give important visitors gingerbread likenesses of themselves. Pretty clever, I’d say.

             
                                Her Royal Gingerness

Then, once Grimm’s tale of Hansel and Gretel came on the scene, German bakers went beserk with elaborate gingerbread houses, castles, manger scenes, edible greeting cards and tree ornaments. Gingerbread became recognized as a profession, and as late as the 17th century, only professionals were allowed to bake it in France and Germany. Restrictions were lifted during Christmas and Easter, though, and Nuremberg became the "Gingerbread Capital of the World."

In this country, gingerbread cookies were first known as "cakes," and were the most loved cookie of early American children. It was probably popular because it was plentiful and cheap, easy to make, and hard to ruin, whether baked in a brick oven or a cook stove. Today, you can choose from a multitude of cookie cutters to fashion the gingerbread men, women, children, and animals of your dreams. In our house, we make gingerbread teddies (big surprise).