Times fly fast and I am a little late with the second Christmas special tutorial. Today its soft gingerbread hearts. This is a favourite treat of mine at Christmas time.
All the bakeries make them and they are mostly decorated with a thin coat of dark chocolate and decorated with a scrap of Santa Claus. You can also be sure to find this kind of decorated hearts at every German Christmas market.
I decided to decorate it with red flowers and holly leaves. But you could also pipe beautiful patterns in royal icing or use fondant cut outs like snowflakes and other Christmas style decor.
Soft gingerbread hearts
7 oz. (200 grams) Honey
3 oz. (90 grams) sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 tsp of ground cloves
1 tsp of ground ginger
13 oz. (360 grams) all purpose flour sifted
I got 2 x 7″ hearts and around 12 x small 2″ hearts out of this portion.
For decoration:
Dark chocolate (you can leave this out and just decorate the heart as it is)
Royal icing
Scraps
Fondant sugar flowers/leaves or flowers/leaves made out of royal icing. Holly leaves and red berries would also look beautiful.
How to make the gingerbread dough:
Step 1:
In a saucepan warm up the honey on low heat until melted for about 15 mins. Dont let it boil. Remove form the heat.
Step 2:
In a bowl add the sugar and pour the warm honey on top. Stir and let it rest untill luke warm.
Step 3:
Stir in the egg, then the baking soda and the cinnamon, cloves & ginger. Mix untill combined.
Step 4:
Add the flour and knead the dough. It may feel sticky but try not to add too much extra flour. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for 30 mins on the counter. Preheat the oven to 325F (170C)
Step 5:
Knead the dough and roll it out on baking paper dusted with flour. Roll into 5-10 mm thickness and cut out the hearts. Bake the hearts in the center of the oven for 10-15 min depending on size until golden and “puffy”. Transfer to cooling racks.
Decorate the gingerbread heart:
Step 1:
Melt the chocolate and use a angled spatular to spread out the chocolate. Let the chocolate dry.
Step 2:
Pipe a border with royal icing.
Step 3:
Decorate your heart with flowers, holly leaves, berries, fondant cut out snowflakes or just use royal icing.
Happy Caking!
Louise
28 comments
Lisa James says:
Feb 8, 2011
Going to try this a little later on, will be perfect for my husband for valentines day
Annette says:
Jan 31, 2011
Louise, I remember having these cookies when I lived in Denmark and I was so excited when I saw this recipe before Christmas. I made them and I was so disappointed
I don’t know where I went wrong, maybe you can help me.
I live in Canada now, and I know that the elevation is different here, I’m not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. The cookies were so hard that I could hardly bite into them. I baked them for the about 12 minutes if I remember correctly.
I hope you can help
I would really love to try again!
Thank you,
Annette
asimpson2@telus.net
Anonymous says:
Jan 31, 2011
Annette: So sorry, my mistake! I have edited the recipe and it should now work out. My husband have been working on a baking recipe converter for some time now and now I only use this whenever I need to convert.
Hope that it works now
Let me know if it dosen’t.
Annette says:
Feb 15, 2011
Louise, sorry I just looked at the recipe and I figured out what was different but that didn’t make a difference in what I was working with because I followed the gram version. I always weigh my ingredients as I am use to my danish recipes
You don’t have to post my previous message or this one, that’s ok. I’m not sure now where I went wrong as I followed the recipe. Could it be that I should maybe have baked it for less time? Thanks so much Louise for your help!!
Annette
Anonymous says:
Feb 15, 2011
You should only bake them for 10 – 15 minutes max. They will still feel soft to the touch but they get harder when the cool. Hope it helps. Gingerbread should be eaten all year round
Annabelle says:
Jan 1, 2011
Just found you and will never let you go…sounds like a song huh? May I make a suggestion? For some of us inexperienced bakers it would also be very helpful if you would tell us what number piping tip you use on all your future posts where you pipe. For example, are the dots number 3?
aristea says:
Dec 23, 2010
Hello from Greece! I saw in shops some kind of gingerbread small hearts tho filled with apricot marmelade. Can you tell me how can i do your recipe and fill the hearts with apricot?
thank you in advance! Wish to all merry cristmas!
K Gal says:
Dec 20, 2010
Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe! I love seeing them at German markets. I made three large hearts for family gatherings. I wrote Merry Christmas in German on them and decorated with a star frosting tip to look like snowflakes.
Dora Moreno says:
Dec 13, 2010
Beautiful cookies. I’d like to try making these but I thought Royal icing would break down because of the grease in chocolate. Have you had anything like that happen to your cookies when chocolate & royal icing are combined? Thanks, great Blog BTW!
Jessica says:
Dec 6, 2010
the heart looks great,
was wondering how well does the dough freeze and also how long does the baked cookie keep fresh for once baked?
thanks in advance
cakes to vijayawada says:
Apr 5, 2010
I wish I would like to have a bakery. Your blog is interesting. i
Louise says:
Jan 17, 2010
Judith Tetley: Just use plain flour
Judith Tetley says:
Jan 17, 2010
Thankyou for the gingerbread recipe Louise. Thought I might make a heart for my husband for Valentines Day. Is the “All Purpose” flour a “self raising” flour. Here in Australia we mainly use ‘Plain Flour’ and add a raising agent if needed or; use ready mixed’Self Raising’ Flour.
Kind Regards from Judith
Jamie (Australia) says:
Jan 14, 2009
Hi Louise,
Thanks for your reply. I will certainly try it next season.
Nice day to you..
Jamie
Louise says:
Dec 26, 2008
Ellery: Thank you. I hoped that you had fun with them
Mimi: Of course you can cut down the gounded cloves but I dont find 1 tsp overpowering in taste.
Gis: thank you sweety
nenu: Im sure they will
Page: thank you. The trick when it comes to piped dots is to use a damp brush on the dot straight after you piped it
Christine: Thank you
Howtoeat… : thank you. They taste just as good without the chocolate
Marielba: thank you and a very merry Christmas to you too
Shaaron: Thank you
Tracy: I made lot of these hearts for my daughters class and her teacher got a large heart with her name written on it.
Emma: Welcome to CJ I hope that you will have fun here
Toni: ohh what a wonderful anniversary present to get. He sure deserves a gingerbread heart baked with lots of love
Jamie: if you cant get grounded cloves you can still make them without. It will still taste good.
Jamie (Australia) says:
Dec 24, 2008
Hi,
I wonder if I can omit the ground cloves as I couldn’t find it in Brisbane. There’s on WHOLE CLOVES is available.
Thanks in advance.
Toni says:
Dec 20, 2008
Aw this gingerbread heart recipe is perfect and it looks totally adorable and delish!
After my hubby recently surprised me with a gorgeous diamond necklace from http://www.idonowidont.com as a 10th anniversary present I would love to make one of these soft gingerbread hearts as my present to him.
You’re so talented and I can’t wait to start making and decorating mine, he will adore it!
Emma says:
Dec 18, 2008
OMG! Love your blog! I have been reading it all day.
thank you for sharing!
Tracy says:
Dec 16, 2008
Thank you for sharing something from your culture. And, as usual, thank you for your generosity with all of your tutorials.
Shaaron says:
Dec 16, 2008
The prettiest Christmas hearts I have ever seen. Again, too cute to eat like so many of your beautiful creations.
marielba says:
Dec 16, 2008
It looks so beautiful, congratulations Louise, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, hugs from Venezuela, South America
howtoeatacupcake says:
Dec 16, 2008
Wow this looks so special. I think I’ll make this for my grandma this Chrsitmas but w/o the chocolate. Thanks for th tutorial.
Christine says:
Dec 15, 2008
OMG – These are gorgeous, every time I receive a message telling me you have updated something, I just can’t wait to get there. You really are so inspirational and are an amazing artist. I hope I manage to these.
Page says:
Dec 15, 2008
Hi, your cookies are gorgeous. I still have not been able to make fondant but I am going to give it another try in the new year.
How do you get your Royal Icing dots so perfect. I read you are supposed to stop squeezing and do a C as you lift off of the dot, but I still get peaks. Any suggestions. Thank you for your great ideas. I am a stay at home mom and I love your cookie creations!
nenu says:
Dec 15, 2008
they are so beautiful, I hope mine come out as pretty! thanks for the tutorial
Gis says:
Dec 14, 2008
OMG Lou!!! It looks so pretty that it looks unreal!! hahaha xD I love it
Mimi says:
Dec 13, 2008
Looks good, except for the amount of ground cloves…I would cut that to 1/4 tsp. personally…it’s just too strong an ingredient and would overpower the other flavors, in my opinion.
Ellery says:
Dec 13, 2008
This is so beautiful, I’m gonna try making them tomorrow!