Roe recipes. Roe - Christmas gingerbread of Arkhangelsk Pomors Coloring the roe

Everyone knows from childhood what gingerbread is. We suggest making them yourself, using the “Roe” gingerbread recipe as a basis.

Ingredients:

For the test:

1. Butter – 1 pack (200 g)

3. Eggs - 3 pcs.

4. Sugar – 2 tbsp

5. Water - 3/4 tbsp

6. Salt – 1 pinch

7. Soda – 1 tsp.

8. Mixture of spices (ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom) – 3 tsp.

For glaze (icing):

1. Powdered sugar – 200 g

2. Egg – 1 pc.

Cooking method:

1. First, cook the caramel. To do this, it is better to take a saucepan or saucepan with a thick bottom. Pour 1 cup of sugar into it and put on low heat. The sugar must be stirred so that it does not burn. After the sugar has turned dark brown, you need to very carefully pour boiling water into it.

The mixture must be stirred. When the mixture is homogeneous, add the rest of the sugar and keep it on the fire until it dissolves. Then remove from the stove.

2. While the mass is hot, add butter to it.

3. When stirring, a homogeneous mass is obtained - this is creamy caramel.

4. Spices are usually mixed in equal proportions. They are also added to the still hot caramel and mixed thoroughly. Next, the mixture is left to cool.

5. Beat 1 egg and 2 yolks in a bowl.

6. The egg mixture is mixed with warm caramel.

7. Add salt and soda to the resulting mixture.

8. Then gradually introduce . To begin with, it is better to use a whisk.

9. As the mass thickens, you will have to take a tablespoon.

10. You need to knead the dough until it becomes homogeneous and stops sticking to your hands.

11. Form a block from the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for about a day.

12. The finished block is cut into pieces.

14. Then cut out the gingerbread cookies. To do this, you can use special molds or make templates yourself.

15. If templates are used, they are placed on a layer of dough and cut along the contour with a sharp knife.

16. Baking paper is placed on a baking sheet, and the blanks are placed on it. Gingerbread cookies are baked in a well-heated oven at a temperature of 200-220 degrees for about 5-7 minutes.

17. I made two types of gingerbread, so when the first batch of roes is ready, I put a second batch of a different type in the oven.

18. After the gingerbread cookies are taken out of the oven, they need to cool. If desired, you can make holes in some of them and use them as decorations for the Christmas tree.

19. While the gingerbread cookies are cooling, you can prepare the glaze (icing). To do this, beat the egg white with powdered sugar with a mixer or whisk. The resulting glaze is placed in a pastry syringe or bag and the gingerbread cookies are painted. You can add different dyes to the glaze, then the gingerbread cookies will turn out even more attractive and picturesque. I hope you liked the “Roe” gingerbread recipe.

Additional Information:

Almost everyone associates gingerbread with Tula, which is famous for these culinary products. However, the Arkhangelsk region is rightfully proud of its roe deer. They got their name from the Pomeranian word meaning “curl” or “snake”. Usually these are figures of animals, trees or houses, decorated with multi-colored glaze.

These gingerbread cookies were baked for New Year's or family holidays, such as a wedding or the birth of a child. Over time, they began to decorate New Year trees with roe deer. According to beliefs, such roes were supposed to bring wealth and prosperity to the house.

Roe gingerbread – traditional winter delicacy northern peoples. For many centuries, on the shores of the White Sea, not a single New Year or Christmas can go by without them. Beautiful fragrant figures of deer, goats, angels, fir trees, houses from gingerbread text - all of them are called roes.

The recipe for these gingerbread cookies is passed down from generation to generation. Previously, special molds were even passed on; today they can be easily purchased in a store.

Beautiful multi-colored gingerbread cookies will suit any holiday table.

Roe - an old recipe

The name “roe” comes from the word goat; in ancient times it was a symbol of well-being and prosperity in the home. The roe baked in the form of animals– deer, goats, cats, cows. Later, figures of angels, houses, Christmas trees, sleighs, roses and clouds were added.

We approached this process responsibly; it could take more than one day. It was believed that you need to bake with good thoughts and in a great mood, wishing everyone well and smiling - otherwise the gingerbread cookies will not turn out. The whole family decorated the roe deer to their own taste - with different intricate patterns. Very often they were hung on the Christmas tree instead of toys. The peoples of Pomerania kept them for a whole year, then baked new ones, and fed birds and old ones.

Not a single recipe for roe deer dough is complete without sugar syrup, boiled to the consistency of caramel.

In total, to make gingerbread you will need a glass of honey, two glasses of water and sugar, 100 grams of butter, a kilogram of rye or wheat flour (preferably coarsely ground), 1 gram of cinnamon and cloves.

How to bake roe

By ancient recipe honey, sugar and water are mixed and boiled over low heat until “brown” until caramelized. Then let it cool slightly and add butter, spices and flour. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour (previously it was taken out into the cold).

The dough should become plastic, any figures can be easily molded from it. They bake quickly - only 10 minutes, at a temperature of just over 200 degrees. Rye flour makes the dough more difficult to roll, but the roe deer turns out tastier.

Already cooled gingerbread cookies can be decorated. Today it is not difficult to purchase ready-made food colorings, and in ancient times there were only a few flowers. For white, the egg whites were beaten with sugar; for pink, jam was dripped into it; for yellow, the yolk was used.

It can be difficult to obtain natural dyes. The yellow color is made from lemon zest and carrot juice fried in butter. The green “paint” is obtained from spinach juice, the brown one from cocoa.

All dyes - both homemade and purchased - are added to the pre-prepared glaze.

Glaze for roe deer - recipe

To do this, two whites are whipped into a thick foam with 5 tablespoons of sugar, and poured into cups, in which different colors are then made. Roe deer are painted with patterns thin brush to your taste.

Another recipe for gingerbread glaze is this:

Beat 1 egg white and 100 grams of powdered sugar with a whisk or in a blender. If the mixture turns out to be too liquid, it will not become an excellent background for painting baked goods.

Arkhangelsk roe deer: recipe

They are also called northern ones; residents of Pomerania have been baking them for many centuries and are called the Christmas symbol of Arkhangelsk. The recipe for Christmas roe is a little different.

You will need three glasses of sugar, 100 grams of margarine or butter, 2 glasses of water, 8 glasses of flour, 2 spoons of soda, a pinch of ginger, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Initially Heat a glass of sugar in a frying pan or saucepan until it turns dark brown, after which two glasses of water are poured into it and the remaining sugar is added. The syrup is brought to a boil, then mixed with oil and cooled. Next, as in the previous recipe, the remaining ingredients are added and the dough is kneaded.

For the glaze you will need a glass of sugar, one egg white and a small pinch of citric acid. The egg white is whipped thickly, after which syrup - granulated sugar boiled in half a glass of water - is poured into it in a thin stream. Then the glaze is whipped again with the addition of lemon. It is recommended to decorate gingerbread cookies with chilled glaze.

The finished roe deer should be soft on the inside and golden brown on the outside. After a day they should slightly harden. You can bake these gingerbread cookies with your whole family – it brings you together and lifts your spirits. Over time, this can become a good New Year's tradition.

Stencils for gingerbread

The most ancient baked goods are ritual gingerbread-roe. That is, initially they were not gingerbread, since they appeared much earlier than spices in Rus'. And roe deer used to be figurines made of unleavened dough, which were sculpted for the New Year, only the Slavic one, which coincided with the harvest festival and came in September. And only then the roe deer began to bake in the winter - and these cute gingerbread cookies became a symbol of our Orthodox Christmas. However, first things first.

Why roe deer?

“Roes are different,” he tells us Master class specialist and tour guide of the Museum of Russian Dessert, Svetlana Ustyugova. - “The first roe deer appeared on Pomeranian soil many centuries ago. They are considered the most ancient type of baked figured dough. There is chronicle evidence that back in the 12th century our ancestors sculpted figures of bulls and cows from dough. Gingerbread cookies were strips of dough woven into fancy twists. For their twisted, snake-like shape, the ancient Pomeranian cookies got their name - roe, from the Pomeranian word “roe” - snake, curl."

Photo: AiF/ Alexey Vissarionov

The image of a roe-snake was associated with the autumn harvest, or rather with its completion - with the autumn New Year or New Year (in September). Later this tradition was transferred to winter Christmas and January New Year. And in the Kargopol region, roe deer were made in the form of serpentine curls rolled into circles called “grouse” and baked in mid-March, which also refers to a very ancient ritual dedicated to the spring equinox.
The Pomors believed that such roe-snakes would bring wealth and prosperity to the house.

There are three types of roe deer: three-dimensional Kholmogory roe deer (resembling clay figurines), Kargopol teter roe deer and painted flat gingerbread roe deer. The last ones, Arkhangelsk roe, appeared in the Russian North when sugar and spices (cinnamon and cloves) arrived there, that is, they became available to ordinary people, and not just the rich and noble. This happened no earlier than the 18th century.

In the old days, making and painting roe deer were largely ritual in nature; our ancestors believed in the protective power of fragrant gingerbread. Roe is both a talisman and a talisman.

Today, Arkhangelsk roe deer are a beautiful, aromatic edible souvenir, an excellent gift for any holiday or anniversary.

The shapes of gingerbread cookies have become varied. There are houses, hearts, and even cartoon characters.

Northern gingerbread

In the old days, roe deer were baked from rye flour to obtain a characteristic dark color, on which the glaze pattern looks most advantageous. Later they began to be made from wheat flour, adding burnt sugar. The dough was prepared in advance, it could lie in the cold for weeks, and it only got better. The figures were cut out in different ways - the goat girls had their own molds, which they took care of and passed on to generations. Already baked and cooled roe deer were covered with glaze of two colors: white and pink, obtained using lingonberry or cranberry juice.

Photo: AiF/ Alexey Vissarionov

Pomeranian roe deer have survived to this day almost unchanged; these traditional small gingerbread cookies have been baked by the inhabitants of Pomerania for many centuries. It is assumed that the settlement of the White and Barents Seas occurred in the 9th-11th centuries, where the Pomors as a people were formed for a long time. These “steadfast tin soldiers” lived a special way of life and everyday life, retained the pagan faith for a long time, believed in spirits, the machinations of evil spirits... On Christmas Eve they baked Pomeranian roe deer from rye flour, funny little figurines of animals and birds.

Pomeranian roe all year (until next Christmas) served as a talisman against evil forces, because it was believed that they have a positive influence on people's lives. They contribute to the industry, the well-being of the family, the health of people, livestock, poultry, and maintain happiness in the home... Traditionally, unleavened rye dough for gingerbread was kneaded from coarse rye flour and water. The owner of the house kneaded (rolled), which had a certain ritual meaning. In addition, the kneading process is long and requires great physical effort. The dough, rolled into a log, had to stand without bending. Incorrect mixing led to cracking of the Pomeranian roe.

Men and women took part in making gingerbread, and children learned the art of rolling roe deer. Whole herds of different animals: deer, cows, big-horned sheep, seals, moose, birds, were sent to the Russian oven. Pomeranian roes were sculpted with prayers and sayings; people seemed to endow the gingerbread animals with the ability to protect and protect. Each small figure had a certain semantic meaning, for example, a deer with intertwined horns - a symbol of faith, hope, love, a cow brought prosperity, a bird with chicks on its back personified the happiness of motherhood.

Most often, Pomors sculpted deer, which, depending on the shape of the horns, had different semantic meanings. There were deers of friendship, health and longevity, spiritual protectors, deers of love and warmth. Ritual gingerbread was given to relatives, loved ones, neighbors, children played with Pomeranian deer, the owners gave gifts to carolers, who went from house to house with good wishes. The girls told fortunes using Pomeranian roe deer and treated the boys. A few little protectors were left until next Christmas, in order to protect the home and family from misfortunes. For a while, Pomeranian roe deer became members of the family and received names: Chernukha, Belyanka...

There were bread figurines next to the icons, which proves the importance the Pomors attached to ritual baking! Broken and old gingerbread cookies were never thrown away. The bread figurines were fed to the cattle, and in times of famine they could eat it themselves. In each region, different roes were baked, differing in shape, there were Terek, Mezen, Kargopol, Kholmogory. Our Pomeranian roe deer made from rye dough are peasant ones.

Pomeranian peasant roe

Ingredients:
Rye flour
Water
Salt

Step 1. Gradually adding flour to water you need to knead a stiff dough. And salt it.
Step 2. Knead the dough very thoroughly. Make a sausage out of it.
Step 3. Let the dough rest overnight, you can keep it in the refrigerator longer.
Step 4. Before modeling, the dough needs to be kneaded and cut into small pieces.
Step 5. Make a roe deer, gradually pulling out the head, legs, and antlers from the main piece.
Step 6. Bake in the oven or oven for an hour, then dip in boiling water, then bake for another 20-30 minutes. Repeat boiling and baking until the roe deer become firm and glossy. Cool.

In the old days there were many types of figures and each had its own meaning: they sculpted symbols of the Sun, Abundance, Health, Kindness. To make the toys look more festive, they were bleached: the almost finished bread figurines were taken out of the oven and dipped into boiling water, and then placed in a hot oven, and this procedure was repeated more than once. Then the roe becomes lighter and acquires shine.

The components of the dough also had their own meaning: water - life, strength, purification, rye flour - health, wealth, salt - a talisman against all evil spirits.

How to sculpt

The sculpting techniques are the same for all figures. The movements have been honed over centuries, there are no unnecessary ones. Even the number of cuts in the process of sculpting roe deer should be no more than 17. This requirement was fulfilled by all Pomeranian craftsmen and was associated with the ritual nature of the figurines.

A sausage was made from the dough and divided into small pieces. An “egg” was made from a piece, then the sharp part of it was pulled out more and a “pear” was obtained. By pulling out 1/3 of the “pear”, we got a “shoe”. Using the thumb and index finger, the legs of the deer were stretched out. Then cuts were made from the side of the abdomen, resulting in 4 legs. The remaining part on top was made into the head and horns.

Solombala roe deer

Photo: AiF/ Alexey Vissarionov

600 g granulated sugar
500 g margarine
1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1 tbsp. l. cinnamon
1 tbsp. carnations
2.4 tsp soda (quench with vinegar)
2 kg flour

Burn a third of the granulated sugar, gradually pour 2 cups of boiling water into it and add another 400 g of sand. Remove from heat, but stir margarine and salt into the still warm mixture. Cool the resulting mass. Then add eggs, cinnamon and cloves, add baking soda, quenched with vinegar, and lastly add flour. Knead the stiff dough, cut it into pieces, roll the pieces into cakes and you can cut out figures.

Before baking, brush the products with yolk diluted with water (1/2 cup of water per yolk).

The finished roe deer are painted with colored glaze.

Glaze

Boil syrup from 1 glass of granulated sugar and 1 glass of water (check readiness with a ring - bubbles should be blown out of it);
- pour 2 whipped egg whites into the hot syrup and beat this mixture until it cools;
- add 2-3 drops of citric acid or vinegar essence and add color with food coloring.

Murmansk roe

Dough:
600 g granulated sugar
150 g butter or butter margarine
3 eggs
Cloves, cinnamon, baking soda - 1 teaspoon each
1.2-1.3 kg of flour.

Burn a glass of granulated sugar in an enamel dish. When all the sugar has melted, add 1 glass of hot boiled water (slowly). Mix. Then add another 2 cups of granulated sugar. When everything boils and the sugar has melted, turn it off. Add 150 g butter or margarine. When everything has cooled slightly, add 2 yolks and 1 whole egg, also add spices and water. Add flour (not all). Then pour the flour onto the table and knead the dough. Place the dough in a bag and leave it in the cold: outside in the cold or in the freezer. Can be stored for up to 1 month. Cut the dough from the refrigerator into small pieces and knead well until it becomes shiny. Do not add flour.

Roll out the dough to a thickness of 5 mm, cut out any shapes and bake them in the oven. Grease the baking sheet not greasy, but slightly so that the gingerbread does not burn.

Glaze:
To make the glaze, beat 2 egg whites, gradually adding powdered sugar until the glaze becomes thick. Place the icing in a bag (paper rolled up into a tube) and paint the gingerbread.

Arkhangelsk roe deer

Photo: AiF/ Alexey Vissarionov

Burn 1 glass of granulated sugar, then dissolve it in a glass of hot water. Then add 2 cups of granulated sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Turn off the heat and add 150 g of butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, cloves and soda, cool slightly, add 1 egg and 2 yolks. After this, add about 0.5 kg of flour, knead the dough so that it does not stick to your hands. Keep the dough in a pan and cellophane in a cool place for a week. After this, add another 0.5 kg of granulated sugar to the dough and roll it out to a thickness of 0.5 cm. Cut the rolled out dough into shapes made of tin or thick paper and place on a baking sheet, greased once with oil.
Brush the gingerbread cookies with an egg beaten with water in a 1:1 ratio and place in the oven. Bake for 5 - 7 minutes. Let the finished gingerbreads dry, then remove them from the baking sheet and decorate with glaze.

Arkhangelsk roe deer - aristocrats, painted with glaze, containing white flour, burnt sugar, cinnamon, cloves. To give the sugar glaze different colors, Pomors added the juices of northern berries. Men also took part in the preparation of the Arkhangelsk ritual gingerbread. They kneaded the dough, bent iron into contour shapes of figurines of animals and birds... From the rolled out dough they cut out flat Pomeranian roes with molds. The whole family decorated fragrant, beautiful gingerbread cookies. Now Pomeranian roe deer have lost their ritual magical significance, although they are still a good gift.

The northern gingerbread roe appeared in Arkhangelsk Solombala - an area of ​​​​artisan people. In those distant times, roe deer were baked only for the largest holidays. For a long time it was believed that the roe deer brings good luck. For example, people believed that if a girl bakes a roe deer herself and then gives it to a young man, then she will definitely get married next year. A large roe was given to the whole family at once. It was believed that it would bring good luck to the house and become its amulet.

GOES - GINGERBREAKERS OF ARKHANGELSK POMORIES

According to the old tradition, figured cut-out gingerbread cookies decorated with colored sugar glaze are baked in Arkhangelsk.

Little, horny,
Doesn't turn his head
It crunches on your teeth...

Well, of course, it's a roe! And what is it? Figurines - deer, skates, bulls, cows, goats, birds, seals - made from rye dough - have a common meaning, the common name is “roes”.

Have you ever tried northern gingerbread - roe? Delicious, crispy gingerbread with the aroma of herbs. Now the tradition of baking roe deer is being revived, but previously, during the Soviet era, such delicious gingerbread was not available.

The first roe deer appeared on Pomeranian soil many centuries ago. They are considered the most ancient type of baked figured dough, dating back to the cult figurines of the 12th century. There is chronicle evidence that back in the 12th century, our ancestors sculpted figures of bulls and cows from dough. Gingerbread cookies were strips of dough woven into intricate twists. The ancient Pomeranian cookies got their name from the convoluted, snake-like shape - roe, from the Pomeranian word “roe” - snake, curl.

The image of a roe-snake was associated with the autumn harvest, or rather with its completion - with the autumn New Year or New Year (in September). Later this tradition was transferred to winter Christmas and January New Year. And in the Kargopol region, roes were made in the form of serpentine curls rolled into circles called “grouse” and baked in mid-March, which also refers to a very ancient ritual dedicated to the spring equinox.
The Pomors believed that such roe-snakes would bring wealth and prosperity to the house.

There are three types of roe deer: three-dimensional Kholmogory roe deer (resembling clay figurines), Kargopol teter roe deer and painted flat gingerbread roe deer. Arkhangelsk painted roe gingerbread appeared in the Russian North when sugar and spices (cinnamon and cloves) became available to the population of the provincial center, that is, not earlier than the 18th century.

In the old days, gingerbread was also made in the form of animals - deer, horses, bulls, cows, goats, seals. The custom of baking animals originates from pagan beliefs. It is assumed that the creation of a grain herd is a modified sacrifice. There was a belief that the more people baked animal figurines, the more game there would be in the forests and livestock in the yards. On which the well-being of the people directly depended. The Slavs also believed that roe deer brought happiness to the house, so they were kept in the house for up to a year, and sometimes more. This tradition has survived to this day.

In ancient times, deer and horses were symbols of the Sun, the solar deity, associated with the image of the god Yarila. They were often depicted on a stand - a symbol of the universe. Kholmogory roe deer (made from rye flour) is a figure on four legs, a head, a bush of branched antlers, apples on the horns, birds on the apples, or rather bird wings, made of white dough. An apple with wings resembles the image of a winged sun. And its size reached 245 cm. Often the roe deer were given names: Beliana, Belek, Chernukha...

Brides and young girls were given horses with manes braided in triple braids - as a symbol of Faith, Hope, and Love. They also placed roe deer in front of the icon.

There were roes in the form of a star, an angel, a shepherd, a basket (with gifts), a bird, etc. These figures resemble Christian symbols, but the true meaning has been lost over time.

In the old days, making and painting roe deer was largely of a ritual nature; our ancestors believed in the protective power of fragrant gingerbread. Roe is both a talisman and a talisman.

Today, Arkhangelsk roe deer are a beautiful, aromatic edible souvenir, an excellent gift for any holiday or anniversary.
The shapes of gingerbread cookies have become varied. There are houses and hearts, and cartoon characters, etc.

Gingerbread cookies can be stored for up to a year, so gingerbread cookies painted by you will be an excellent gift for all times!

In the old days, roe deer were baked from rye flour to obtain a characteristic dark color, on which the glaze pattern looks most advantageous. Later they began to be made from wheat flour, adding burnt sugar. The dough was prepared in advance, it could lie in the cold for weeks, and it only got better. The figures were cut out in different ways - the goat girls had their own molds, which they took care of and passed on to generations. Already baked and cooled roes were covered with glaze of two colors: white and pink, obtained by adding lingonberry or cranberry juice.
Now, along with just gingerbread, they have begun to invent various gingerbread houses, and even make models of wooden churches.

Pomeranian roe deer - recipe

Kozuli are made from specially prepared dough. Pieces of dough are shaped into various animals - goats and goats, deer, lambs, cows and bulls, as well as cats, seals and birds. The made figurines are baked in an oven or oven on a greased sheet. Kozuli is also considered a regional variety of Russian gingerbread. Based on the manufacturing method, modern roe can be classified as cut-out gingerbread.
Dough recipes are quite varied, and many families have their own recipes for making dough, which have been kept in families for decades. Roe deer are usually colorfully decorated using glaze, which is made from whipped egg whites with the addition of various natural dyes.

Roe "Solombala"

600g granulated sugar, 500g margarine, 1/2 tsp. salt, 4 eggs, 1 tbsp. l. cinnamon, 1 tbsp. cloves, 2.4 tsp. soda (quench with vinegar), 2 kg of flour.
200g. Burn the granulated sugar, gradually pour 2 cups of boiling water into it and add another 400g of sand. Remove from heat, but stir margarine and salt into the still warm mixture. Cool the resulting mass. Then add eggs, cinnamon and cloves, add baking soda, quenched with vinegar, and lastly add flour. Knead the stiff dough, cut it into pieces, roll the pieces into cakes and you can cut out figures.
Before baking, brush the products with yolk diluted with water (1/2 cup of water per yolk).
Ready-made roe deer are painted with colored glaze.
Glaze:
- cook syrup from 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup water (check readiness with a ring - bubbles should be blown out of it);
- pour 2 whipped egg whites into the hot syrup and beat this mixture until it cools;
- add 2-3 drops of citric acid or vinegar essence and add color with food coloring.
Next, you can add ½ cup of honey (resting time for the dough increases to 2-3 weeks) or condensed milk (resting time for the dough for 3-4 weeks).

Murmansk roe

Dough:
600 g granulated sugar. 150 g butter or butter margarine. 3 eggs. Cloves, cinnamon, baking soda - 1 teaspoon each. 1.2-1.3 kg of flour. Burn a glass of granulated sugar in an enamel dish. When all the sugar has melted, add 1 glass of hot boiled water (slowly). Mix. Then add another 2 cups of granulated sugar. When everything boils and the sugar has melted, turn it off. Add 150 g butter or margarine. When everything has cooled slightly, add 2 yolks and 1 whole egg, also add spices and water. Add flour (not all). Then pour the flour onto the table and knead the dough. Place the dough in a bag and leave it in the cold: outside in the cold or in the freezer. Can be stored for up to 1 month. Cut the dough from the refrigerator into small pieces and knead well until it becomes shiny. Do not add flour.
Roll out the dough to a thickness of 5 mm, cut out any shapes and bake them in the oven. Grease the baking sheet not greasy, but slightly so that the gingerbread does not burn.
Glaze:
To make the glaze, beat 2 egg whites, gradually adding powdered sugar until the glaze becomes thick. Place the icing in a bag (paper rolled up into a tube) and paint the gingerbread.

Arkhangelsk roe deer

Burn 1 glass of granulated sugar, then dissolve it in a glass of hot water. Then add 2 cups of granulated sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Turn off the heat and add 150 g of butter or margarine, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, cloves and soda, cool slightly, add 1 egg and 2 yolks. After this, add about 0.5 kg of flour, knead the dough so that it does not stick to your hands. Keep the dough in a pan and cellophane in a cool place for a week. After this, add another 0.5 kg of granulated sugar to the dough and roll it out to a thickness of 0.5 cm. Cut the rolled out dough into shapes made of tin or thick paper and place on a baking sheet, greased once with oil.
Brush the gingerbread cookies with beaten egg and water in a 1:1 ratio and place in the oven. Bake for 5 - 7 minutes. Let the finished gingerbreads dry, then remove them from the baking sheet and decorate with glaze.

In order to make the glaze colored, you can use natural dyes:
* white paint: powdered sugar, milk, sour cream;
* yellow: mix lemon zest with carrot juice and oil, fry for 3 - 5 minutes until softened and strain through cheesecloth;
* green: juice from spinach;
* red and pink: juice of raspberries, strawberries, lingonberries, currants, cherries, pomegranates, boiled beets;
* orange: orange and tangerine juice;
* brown: cocoa powder.

Since ancient times, people have baked various sweets for the holidays. For a birthday - a cake, for Easter - Easter cakes, for a wedding - a loaf. But for Christmas they baked roe deer.

What are these sweets?

Kozuli are traditional Christmas cookies made from rye or wheat flour. Most often it was made in the shape of a goat, horse, sheep, cow, or deer. The goat has always been considered a symbol of wealth and prosperity in the home, and making cookies in the shape of this animal symbolized prosperity.

During the Christmas holidays, all relatives, friends, neighbors and caroling children received roe biscuits as a treat. The recipe for such sweets was passed down from generation to generation. Each family baked roe deer with its own “twist”. After all, not only people were treated to Christmas cookies, but they were also fed to pets. People believed that after this the cattle became very fertile. In addition, roe deer were hung in a stable or barn as a talisman, and were also used for fortune telling on Epiphany evening.

Roe biscuits. Recipe one

To prepare you will need:

• 5 cups sugar (for dough and glaze);
• 2.5 glasses of water;
• 3 eggs (in dough);
• 5 yolks (in the dough);
• 2 egg whites (for icing).
• 1/2 teaspoon salt;
• 2 tablespoons of soda;
• 2-3 tablespoons of spices (cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon);
• 2 drops of vinegar essence (in glaze);
• 1.8-2 kg of flour.

Preparing the dough and making goats

Over low heat in a thick bowl (preferably a frying pan with a thick bottom) melt 2 cups of sugar (until brown). Then slowly pour in 1.5 cups of boiling water. The water in the bowl should boil and steam vigorously. It is better not to lean low over the frying pan so as not to burn your face. It is necessary to constantly stir the mixture with a wooden spoon. Dissolve everything in Add the same amount of sugar (2 cups), stir and let it dissolve completely. Next, you can remove the syrup from the heat and add 350 g of margarine (butter). Pour the entire mixture into a large saucepan and let cool.

While the syrup is cooling, in a separate cup you need to beat 5 yolks and 3 whole eggs (as for an omelet). Pour the egg mixture into the cooled syrup. Add salt, spices (to taste) and soda. Sift the flour, then gradually pour into the sugar mixture. Flour should be poured as required by the roe recipe, even if the dough seems liquid. Otherwise the products will be tough. Place the finished dough in a cool place for one day.

After the allotted time has passed, roll it out about a centimeter thick and cut out your favorite shapes (you can make the necessary templates in advance). Products should be baked at a temperature of 180 degrees.

Glaze

And for the roe deer? We will now look at the recipe for making it. First you need to beat two whites into a stiff foam. Boil syrup from a glass of water and sugar. Remove the boiling syrup from the heat and pour the whites into it. Beat with a mixer until thick (15-25 minutes). Finally, pour in the essence. If you want, you can add dye. After which you can decorate the finished roes with glaze.

To make the cookies soft and tasty, it is better to make them large and not very thin. And most importantly, do not overdry the dough in the oven! Then you will get real, “magical” Christmas roes, the traditional recipe of which is now known to you!

Other products

Gingerbread-roe cakes are also baked. What are these products and where did they come from? Gingerbread appeared in the north of Arkhangelsk. In those ancient times, they were baked only for New Year and Christmas. Gingerbread cookies were cut out in the shape of figures of animals, birds, an angel, a Christmas tree, houses, a Christmas star or a sleigh. The recipe for roe deer was passed down from grandmothers to mothers and has survived to this day. There are also separate family forms of roe deer, both ancient and new, modern.

The northerners believed that roe deer attracted good luck. If, for example, a young girl makes gingerbread herself and gives it to a single guy, then soon she will definitely become a bride. But it was customary to give the largest roe to the whole family for good luck. She was considered a talisman. Most often, roe deer were baked in the oven. But in the 30s of the last century, they began to use another method: before putting the figurine in the oven, they began to immerse it in boiling water for a couple of minutes to preserve the shape of the gingerbread.

The main secret of making roe deer is to make the dough with love, in a good mood and without haste. It is best to start kneading late in the evening, before going to bed.

Gingerbread dough

What about roe deer? Its recipe is clear to everyone. For cooking you will need:

• 2-2.5 kg of sifted flour;
• two eggs;
• a pack of margarine or butter;
• a tablespoon of baking soda, slaked with vinegar;
• spices to taste (cloves, ginger, cinnamon);
• 3-4 glasses of sugar.

Preparation

Glaze for roe deer. Recipe

First, we'll tell you how it's done. You need to thoroughly beat one egg white. Next, you need to gradually add powdered sugar (a glass) and a few drops of lemon for shine. To prepare the pink glaze, you first need to separate a little of the white glaze and drop raw beet juice into it, and then stir until the shade is uniform.

Gingerbread cookies can be decorated using a brush, match, stick or pastry bag. It all depends on your imagination. It is better not to fill the products with glaze, but to draw intricate New Year's patterns. The glaze recipe can be slightly varied by adding carrot juice, cocoa or dyes to the cream.

Third recipe

Of course, these are not the only gingerbread roe. The recipe for another magical pastry will help you prepare such sweet products a little faster. For cooking you will need:

• sugar - 800 g;
• glass of water;
• margarine (butter) - 150 g;
• spices (cinnamon, cloves);
• soda - teaspoon;
• 3 eggs;
• flour.

Cooking gingerbread

Melt one glass of sugar over the fire and dissolve it in a glass of hot water. Then pour in two more glasses of sand and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and add butter (about 150 g), a teaspoon of cinnamon and soda to the syrup. Cool and add one egg and two yolks. Then pour in 0.5 kg of flour and knead into a stiff dough. Keep it in a cool place. Then add another half a kilogram of granulated sugar and roll it into a layer 50 mm thick. Cut out animal figures and place on a greased sheet.

Brush the gingerbread with egg and water and place in the oven. Bake for about 7 minutes. Finished products must dry.

How to prepare glaze for roe deer in this case? The recipe is practically no different from the usual one. For cooking you will need:

• two proteins;
• powdered sugar;
• dye or juice of berries and vegetables.

Beat two egg whites and powdered sugar (5-7 tablespoons). Add or juice of cranberries, beets, blueberries, lingonberries, carrots. Mix well until uniform. Add dye until you get the desired color. Afterwards you can decorate the gingerbread cookies with glaze.

Conclusion

Many people don’t even suspect that such delicious and unusual gingerbread roe exists. Some people saw or tried this pastry, but did not know its name. Now you understand how to make real Christmas roes, the recipe for which is presented in the article, which means you can not only try them yourself, but also bake these amazing figures. Children love them most of all. After all, gingerbread cookies are so similar to fairy-tale toys that bring joy and faith in miracles on New Year’s Eve. But, by the way, there is no such holiday when it would be impossible to decorate the dinner table with gingerbread roes! Whatever roe recipe you choose, bake them with love, kindness and faith in the best! Go for it - and everything will work out for you!