I'm pretty good at making pastry and I can make several kinds of cookies. I've also made gingerbread cookies, but I still like store-bought cookies more. In about November, I thought I will try to improve my gingerbread cookie recipe this year. Last year the recipe was already quite good, but not the best.I'm sure Siiri must have noticed my interest in gingerbread cookies, because already in the beginning of November, she was asking me when we will make gingerbread cookies. I promised that we will do it in December and I couldn't wait. I made a gingerbread dough the day before and we spent 1st of December making gingerbread cookies. I tried them, but there was too much of cloves ad allspice. I had to have another go at it. A few days later I did another patch and a few days later I did another one. If my calculation is correct, I've made gingerbread cookie dough 6 times in the last month, adjusting mostly the spices.
There is nothing simple about gingerbread spices.
The classic Swedish blend is cinnamon and ginger, roughly equal amounts. American blend is ginger (2-3 tsp), cinnamon (1-3 tsp, equal to or less than ginger), allspice (1/2-2 tsp, less than cinnamon), cloves (just a little, about 1/4 tsp). Sometimes nutmeg or rarely even black pepper is added. Estonian blend is VERY different. It's typical to see black pepper, cinnamon and cloves. Everything else can be omitted and even those are optional. Some spices have to be added, otherwise gingerbread cookie will just be a "cookie" in stead and that's boring and plain. But really, there doesn't seem to be any clear pattern in what spices to add to get a good old traditional Estonian gingerbread cookie.I'm guessing it's partly because of the soviet era. I don't suppose we had much ginger being sold in the stores. Cloves must have come from somewhere in the Soviet Union because cloves are used in many typical (traditional) Estonian marinades. That's why the "spice" in gingerbread cookies is cloves in stead of ginger. I mean, cloves and black pepper. The Estonian word for gingerbread actually translates to "peppercake". Some recipes featured black pepper in stead of allspice and initially I though it was just a mistake. I thought black pepper was plain and it was just something that was used because allspice wasn't always available. Now that I've tried both, I see that black pepper gives a really nice spicy flavor it it.
I'll give you my latest recipe. It still needs a bit of something, perhaps more sugar, or a different kind of brown sugar. I've made the dough but I haven't made cookies yet. I have high expectations.
Gingerbread cookies.
(modified in November, 2013)
2 dl sugar (for melting and browning)
1.5 dl hot water (I use a kitchen scale to measure 150 g of boiled water)
3.5 dl brown sugar (muscovado. Year 2013 correction: molasses sugar, about 250g)
250 g of butter
1 egg
800-900 g flour (I use flour with 12% protein content, Veski-Mati "Eriti hea nisujahu". )
4 tsp baking powder (Year 2013 correction: use 1.5 tsp baking soda and 1.5 tsp baking powder)
Spices (all ground):
0.5 tsp cloves
3 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
0.75 tsp black pepper
3-4 allspice berries
0.5 tsp cardamom
a bit of nutmeg
1 tsp coriander
orange zest of half a fresh orange
Pour the sugar in a pot and add enough water to dissolve the sugar while heating it. Amount doesn't matter, the water will evaporate. Heat until the water has evaporated and the sugar starts rising (sugar also starts to smell like burnt coffee). Remove sugar from heat to a cool surface to stop the browning. Wait a bit for the sugar to cool, then add hot water. Then add the rest of the sugar, let it dissolve in the hot syrup. Remove from heat. Add butter, let it melt, mix. Add spices. Let it cool. When it's cooled enough, add one lightly beaten egg and also mix in flour with baking powder. Voilà, you're done. Let it sit in the refrigerator over night or more. The longer the better. Some say it should sit in refrigirator for at least a week before making cookies, but then you might have to use less flour or knead in some water if the dough is brittle and dry.
I made this latest patch yesterday and I've tasted the dough several times. I'm tempted to make some cookies soon, to see how they turned out. The dough tastes a bit too much like muscovado sugar, which tastes a bit like cough syrup. The thought of baking gingerbread cookies to satisfy my curiosity has crossed my mind several times already, even though there are so many things I could do in stead. I want to find out how the cookies taste! I'm just too obsessed to stop myself. Besides, if I don't stop myself, I will have gingerbread cookies later today. But perhaps I need sleep even more.
As for the raw egg in the dough, I don't mind it. About 1 egg in 100 000 is infected with salmonella bacteria. I taste the dough and I let Liisa and Siiri taste it. Being able to snack on gingerbread dough is part of a good childhood. Also, perhaps Salmonella bacteria won't like the spices.
December is almost over and I won't do any more gingerbread dough this year (if I can help it). I'll continue with the recipe next year. In January I will try to channel my obsession to my work. I have never been able to channel my obsessions but I understand myself better and better. If I could feel as passionately about my new project as I did about the role of proteins in nutrition or the effect of adrenaline on blood sugar, I would be unstoppable.
Children's development: Siiri is ill all the time. She barely gets to go to kindergarten. In Estonia, children can't go to kindergarten if they even sneeze or cough. Stupid system, promoting unemployed mothers because it makes them such unreliable employees. Liisa learned to walk and then learned to run. She can understand a very big part of what we tell her. "Do you want water? ... Or meat? ... Or are you finished?" and then she shakes her head or points to things. When we don't understand her subtle pleas for attention, she takes the loudest toy, sits in the middle of the room and starts making noise.
"Oh Liisa, I didn't notice, it's already your bed time. Now to sleep?" and she gets up, points to the bedroom, mutters something and starts walking there. It seems like she can not pronounce the words she would like to say. Everything ends up sounding like grumbling and mumbling. Liisa is getting along very well with the babysitter, but Siiri and the babysitter haven't really clicked. Okay, sure, I told the babysitter at the job interview, that she will be primarily Liisa's babysitter because Siiri will be in kindergarten most of the time, but when she's ill, she will also need babysitting. But now it seems like Siiri gets more real attention in kindergarten than at home with the babysitter, even though the babysitter only has 2 kids to take care of, while in kindergarten, there are 19 children for 2 teachers. Like today - I hastily tied Siiri's hair in the morning and if hadn't been touched until 4 pm when I came home. She was also wearing pajamas and I can only hope that they simply hadn't had time to change after the afternoon nap. Alternatively she wore pajamas the entire day. The babysitter had cleaned the kitchen area very well, but she should have spent the time and energy on Siiri in stead. 
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