Galician gingerbreads

How to make Galician gingerbreads .

Today I bring you one of those Galician dessert recipes that should have had a very high place in my recipe book, the donut-shaped sweets called the gingerbreads .

It is a unique sweet in Galicia whose recipe, in many cases, is the best kept secret.

Each master pastry chef in the town keeps the recipe for their gingerbreads that passes from father to son and repeats year after year as gold cloth.

That is why I have worked hard and researched to get a good recipe for this Galician dessert so that it comes out right the first time and reminds you exactly of the one they make in the Melide region.

It is one more foray into my beloved and most traditional Galician pastry repertoire, at the height of fried donuts  or my mother’s fried milk , the superior tart of Santiago , the famous pancakes or the traditional bica de Laza , so we will also include my recipe for the famous gingerbreads .

The ingredients for its preparation are simple, yolks, flour, butter and a touch of anise. One of the secrets in making these pastes is the glaze.

The point is delicate, we have to get the traditional translucent layer to form, once dry, without completely covering the gingerbread, allowing it to be seen.

We will have a dry and hard paste that complements its flavor with the sweetness that the icing will provide.

Preparation of the base. Kneaded and shaped

1. In a bowl mix the melted butter, the yolks and the anise. We incorporate the flour little by little and we integrate it with the rest of the ingredients.
2. We dump the dough on a work surface and knead for about 10 minutes.
3. Until we have a smooth dough that does not stick to the hands or the worktop.
4. Let the dough rest for 1 hour and begin to form the gingerbreads.
5. With small portions of dough we form thin cylinders that we roll up on themselves to form rings.

Baking of Galician gingerbreads

1. We place the gingerbreads on a baking dish and, with the oven previously heated to 220º C, bake for 10 minutes. Heat up and down, center pan.
2. We remove the gingerbreads from the oven.
3. We let them cool on a rack until they are completely cold before proceeding to give them in a bath with the glaze.
4. Once cold, we have two options, or sprinkle with icing sugar or regular white sugar.
5. And then we put sugar on a plate and we bathe the gingerbread in the sugar so that it adheres, from here to a source or directly to the mouth.

Glaze and final presentation of the gingerbreads

1. Or as they do in Melide, with a glaze. For this we put a small saucepan on the fire and add the sugar and water. Let the syrup cook for 5 minutes, let it reduce and turn off the heat.
2. We pass all the gingerbreads through the syrup. We place all the gingerbreads already cold in a bowl and water with the syrup.
3. With a fork we remove the gingerbreads inside the syrup so that they are all well impregnated and we are placing them on a grid. We wait for the syrup to dry before consuming them.
4. It is important that we are agile at the moment we water the gingerbreads with syrup, in a few seconds the syrup will solidify and we must already have all the gingerbreads well bathed.

I assure you that the result is fantastic, delicious, of course.

In this simple way we can enjoy a typically Galician sweet, a delicious and delicate snack for a snack, a snack or simply to give us a delicious treat.

You can see all the photos of the step by step of the gingerbread recipe   in this album, do not miss any detail and it will be perfect.

Curiosities about gingerbreads

• It is all a Galician gastronomic treasure that is worth preparing at home, or almost better, approaching Melide on his party day, to enjoy it.
• Every year, on the second Sunday of May, for 25 years, the Melindre Festival and the traditional pastry of Terra de Melide are celebrated in Melide.
• In this party the typical pastry of the area is highlighted in the figure of three of its star products. Trying to pay homage to the traditional ways of working the local pastry, the gingerbread, the rich and the almond .