Whipping up white wonder: The art of icing gingerbread cookies
Gingerbread cookies without decorations? That's unthinkable. The icing adds elegance and a festive touch. The most traditional choice is white icing, which is straightforward at home. With just a few ingredients, you can create joyful moments while decorating.
The magic of Christmas begins when the aroma of freshly baked gingerbread fills the house. There's always a debate about whether more joy comes from baking them or decorating them. Children especially love the latter. It's a wonderful opportunity to spend pre-holiday time with kids, family, and friends in a pleasant atmosphere. Decorating requires concentration, but it's also calming and relaxing.
Traditional and elegant decoration
Icing, a sugar base, has been a staple in traditional baking for years. It works perfectly on donuts, sweet buns, and especially gingerbread cookies. For gingerbread, the icing should be thick yet pliable and harden quickly. Before the holidays, a wide selection of ready-made icings are available in stores, and they are often very user-friendly. However, making your icing is quite simple. It's not just about the ingredients, primarily sugar, but also the satisfaction. Homemade icing contains no preservatives, ensuring that your gingerbread cookies are entirely homemade from start to finish.
Icing is just a few ingredients
To prepare perfect icing for gingerbread cookies, you need just a few ingredients typically found in your kitchen. Icing made from powdered sugar, egg whites, and lemon juice hardens quickly, doesn't run, and is snow-white in colour. Additionally, it carries a lemony flavour. The lemon juice also prevents the icing from cracking.
Proportions according to my grandmother
The key to making icing is getting the proportions right. My grandmother always used a sugar-to-egg-white ratio of 5:1. In practical terms, if the egg white weighs about 1 oz, you add 5 oz of powdered sugar. Preparing the whole thing takes only a moment; this icing consistently turns out well. You can add food colouring, but its most elegant version remains the classic white.
Icing recipe
Ingredients:
- 2 medium egg whites, about 2 oz,
- 10 oz powdered sugar,
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
Instructions:
- Add the lemon juice and powdered sugar to the egg whites.
- Mix all the ingredients with a mixer on low speed using dough hooks.
- After a few minutes, the icing should be smooth and flexible. It is ready to decorate the gingerbread cookies immediately.
