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How to make soft gingerbread hearts

December 12, 2008 by CJ [email protected] 28 Comments

gingerbread hearts
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″ heartsΒ  and around 12 xΒ small 2″ heartsΒ 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

Previous Post: « Couture for cupcakes
Next Post: How to make a Christmas cookie ornament »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lisa James

    February 8, 2011 at 2:31 PM

    Going to try this a little later on, will be perfect for my husband for valentines day πŸ˜‰

    Reply
  2. Annette

    January 31, 2011 at 3:33 PM

    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 πŸ™ 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 πŸ™‚ I would really love to try again!

    Thank you,
    Annette
    [email protected]

    Reply
    • Anonymous

      January 31, 2011 at 3:56 PM

      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 πŸ™‚ Let me know if it dosen’t.

      Reply
      • Annette

        February 15, 2011 at 7:56 AM

        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 πŸ™‚ 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

        February 15, 2011 at 9:05 AM

        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 πŸ™‚

  3. Annabelle

    January 1, 2011 at 8:41 PM

    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?

    Reply
  4. aristea

    December 23, 2010 at 10:35 PM

    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!

    Reply
  5. K Gal

    December 20, 2010 at 4:30 AM

    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.

    Reply
  6. Dora Moreno

    December 13, 2010 at 4:57 AM

    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!

    Reply
  7. Jessica

    December 6, 2010 at 5:22 PM

    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

    Reply
  8. cakes to vijayawada

    April 5, 2010 at 8:11 PM

    I wish I would like to have a bakery. Your blog is interesting. i

    Reply
  9. Louise

    January 17, 2010 at 11:27 PM

    Judith Tetley: Just use plain flour πŸ™‚

    Reply
  10. Judith Tetley

    January 17, 2010 at 3:48 AM

    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

    Reply
  11. Jamie (Australia)

    January 14, 2009 at 9:06 AM

    Hi Louise,

    Thanks for your reply. I will certainly try it next season. πŸ™‚

    Nice day to you..

    Jamie

    Reply
  12. Louise

    December 26, 2008 at 11:11 PM

    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 πŸ˜‰

    Christine: Thank you πŸ™‚

    Howtoeat… : thank you. They taste just as good without the chocolate

    Marielba: thank you and a very merry Christmas to you too πŸ™‚

    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 πŸ™‚

    Toni: ohh what a wonderful anniversary present to get. He sure deserves a gingerbread heart baked with lots of love πŸ™‚

    Jamie: if you cant get grounded cloves you can still make them without. It will still taste good.

    Reply
  13. Jamie (Australia)

    December 24, 2008 at 1:59 AM

    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.

    Reply
  14. Toni

    December 20, 2008 at 1:13 AM

    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!

    Reply
  15. Emma

    December 18, 2008 at 11:36 AM

    OMG! Love your blog! I have been reading it all day.
    thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  16. Tracy

    December 16, 2008 at 11:44 PM

    Thank you for sharing something from your culture. And, as usual, thank you for your generosity with all of your tutorials.

    Reply
  17. Shaaron

    December 16, 2008 at 8:37 PM

    The prettiest Christmas hearts I have ever seen. Again, too cute to eat like so many of your beautiful creations.

    Reply
  18. marielba

    December 16, 2008 at 8:01 PM

    It looks so beautiful, congratulations Louise, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, hugs from Venezuela, South America

    Reply
  19. howtoeatacupcake

    December 16, 2008 at 4:21 PM

    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. πŸ˜€

    Reply
  20. Christine

    December 15, 2008 at 7:38 AM

    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.

    Reply
  21. Page

    December 15, 2008 at 6:58 AM

    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!

    Reply
  22. nenu

    December 15, 2008 at 6:08 AM

    they are so beautiful, I hope mine come out as pretty! thanks for the tutorial πŸ™‚

    Reply
  23. Gis

    December 14, 2008 at 1:10 PM

    OMG Lou!!! It looks so pretty that it looks unreal!! hahaha xD I love it πŸ˜€

    Reply
  24. Mimi

    December 13, 2008 at 12:03 PM

    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.

    Reply
  25. Ellery

    December 13, 2008 at 4:22 AM

    This is so beautiful, I’m gonna try making them tomorrow!

    Reply

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