ZÁZVORKY (CZECH GINGERBREAD)

Traditional recipes have wonderful stories. Unfortunately most are forgotten, or unknown to us city dwellers, only to be re-discovered in books, encyclopedias & tourist guides with a section on folklore. Today's post is dedicated to zázvorky, a Czech (and Slovak) gingerbread recipe.

Holiday cookies, including gingerbread, became popular in the nineteenth century but the history of Christmas sweets is at least 300 years older. Sugar was believed to protect from evil forces so the earliest dessert associated with Christmas was candied fruit. It was shaped into circles that imitated the sun or into animal figures that children would play with before eating. The sweets were hung near a door or from trees so that god influence would extend to the house and the farm. Plain candied fruit was gradually replaced by baked goods. The earliest types of cookies were made of bread dough and hung from the Christmas tree like edible ornaments. They were rich butter cookies, spiced cookies or both.

 

Farmstead in winter (George Henry Durrie, 1860)

Brown and honey gingerbread was also made for Christmas though not every family could afford to buy the ingredients. After the 1840s, a cookie that was simply made of flour, sugar, eggs and ginger was introduced in Britain & Europe with great success. After World War II, confectioners developed more complicated sweets but old-fashioned gingerbread remained very popular, with traditional recipes passing from mother to daughter. 

Zázvorky (or zázvorniky in Slovak) fall precisely under the category of gingernuts that became fashionable in the second half of the nineteenth century: they are hard, thin & dry and excellent for dunking in milk, coffee or tea. Making a decent batch of zázvorky is quite a challenge. As with most traditional recipes, success depends on experience -or guidance from an experienced baker. The recipe featured in today's post belonged to my Czech friend's grandmother and must be at least 100 years old. It originates from Moravian Wallachia, near the Slovak border. Traditional zázvorky are cream white so it's important not to overbake the dough. They also have clear edges, that's why the dough must be left to rest overnight after it's shaped with the special cookie cutter that looks like ginger root. Other details also matter: the right type of flour to use is bread flour. Some versions use whole eggs, some only yolks and some a combination of whole eggs + yolks, possibly resulting in cookies of slightly different textures.

 

 

ZÁZVORKY (CZECH GINGERBREAD) 

I wouldn't have been able to make a decent batch of these cookies without my friend's contribution. Achieving the colour and texture in zázvorky is very important so I didn't use baking powder (although her grandmother's recipe does) in order to better control how the dough expands. For Czech and Slovak people, the shape also matters. I shaped these cookies like fir-trees but I might look for the special cookie cutter next year.

I n g r e d i e n t s

140g all-purpose flour

1tsp ground ginger

140g caster sugar

1 medium-sized egg

M e t h o d

Sift the flour and ginger in a bowl. Beat the eggs with the sugar in another. Combine the mixtures, adding 1tbsp flour if necessary. Roll out the dough about 2-3mm thick, shape with cookie cutters and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave to rest overnight, uncovered. The next day, preheat the oven to 190C. Place the baking sheet on the lower rack, changing position halfway through baking. It normally takes under 10 minutes for the cookies to get firm (and slightly brown) underneath while the surface remains cream white.

 

N o t e 

If you prefer your gingerbread soft, keep in a cookie jar for 2-3 weeks.