姜饼人和姜饼肥皂

童年回忆

As child, one of my favorite holiday traditions included eating beautiful and delicious  handmade gingerbread boys and girls. These were crafted by my lovely mother for many many years. She would make the delicious dough and let it chill overnight until firm so it would be easy to roll out into 1/3 inch thick sheets from which she used a cookie cutter to cut out the gingerbread folk. After they were baked she would decorate these 7 inch x 3 inch cookie people with piped frosting in pink for girls and blue for boys. Raisins were set into the dough before baking for eyes and a slice of cherry was used for every smiling cookie. Once the frosting decorations were in place and dried, she would then carefully wrap each cookie in saran wrap and tie a red or green ribbon into a bow tie around the neck. My mother would always show up with 20-30 of these special holiday treats  at my classroom holiday party. The gingerfolk cookie production didn’t stop when I grew up….it just shifted to my children who adored grandmas gingerbread men. In support of this theory I can say that this very blog topic was given to me by my 28 year old son who assigned this topic to me to help honor my mother Ruthie,  his grandmother, on this first Christmas that she will no longer be with us to make these special treats. Sadly Ruthie passed away in September at age  95 but many things about her live on in her family. Old sayings, silly jokes, free advice, Danish toasts and Gingerbread folk cookies are just a few of her lifes artifacts that were left behind.

为了庆祝我母亲漫长而富有成果的一生，以及我对姜饼香料辛辣精华的终生热爱，我将与你们分享我的 妈妈的饼干食谱 以及它的后代我的 姜饼皂配方。

但首先！

您有没有想过，姜饼人饼干是谁发明的？

第一个有记载的人物形姜饼出现在英国伊丽莎白一世的宫廷中。她指示厨师将饼干做成人物形，并以客人的形象呈现，这些客人对以自己形象制作的派对礼物感到很高兴。毕竟，那是历史上一个富有创造力的时代！英国文艺复兴如火如荼。威廉·莎士比亚正在创作喜剧等戏剧 爱情徒劳无功（ “如果我在这世上只剩下一分钱，那你应该用它去买姜饼，”小丑科斯塔德打趣道。

Also during this time folk medicine practitioners (aka witches and conjure women) would  create gingerbread cookies shaped like men as love tokens for young women. If they could get the man of their choice to eat the gingerbread cookie that had been made for them, the man was suppose to fall in love with the young woman.

总的来说，姜饼的传统来自德国、法国、荷兰和不列颠群岛。到 16 世纪末，一些英国厨师开始用糖代替蜂蜜。^日 century and molasses by the mid  17^日 世纪。黄油和奶油的加入催生了 18^日 世纪的食谱与今天的姜饼非常相似，根据 牛津美国食品和饮料百科全书。

我在这里与大家分享的家庭食谱可以追溯到我曾祖母的三代

多拉·威尔舒森 (Dora Wilshusen)......她把它传给了我的祖母克拉拉·詹森 (Clara Jensen)，又把它传给了我的母亲露丝·史密图弗 (Ruth Smithoover)，再由她又传给了我。

姜饼人食谱

混合奶油：
1 杯黄油、1 杯糖、1 个鸡蛋、1 杯糖蜜、2 汤匙醋

Sift  and add to creamed mixture:
5杯面粉
1½茶匙苏打水
½ 茶匙 盐
1 汤匙 姜
1 茶 肉桂
1 茶匙 丁香
将面团冷藏 3 小时或过夜。
在铺有面粉的板上擀成 1/8 英寸厚的饼，然后用姜饼男孩饼干切刀切开
每只眼睛加半颗葡萄干，再加一片樱桃作为微笑的嘴巴
在硅胶或羊皮纸衬里的烤盘上以 375 度烘烤 6 分钟
用糖霜和圣诞弹簧装饰。

姜饼肥皂配方

Liquid Phase  97 degrees F
10.5 盎司碱液
24 盎司水

Stir lye into water in well ventilated area or outdoors. Set aside and cool  to 97 degrees F. CAUTION (Do NOT stir the WATER INTO THE LYE  or it will spatter and possibly cause burns to the skin. Always pour the lye beads slowly into the water while carefully stirring with a wood or stainless spoon. ( Do not use aluminium untensils only glass or stainless steel. Use rubber gloves and safety glasses. For additional tutorial support  visit www.soapteacher.com

油相 97 华氏度
将混合物放入可容纳约 1.5 加仑液体的不锈钢锅中融化，然后冷却至 97 华氏度
24 盎司菜籽油
31 盎司椰子油
13 盎司高油酸葵花籽油
香精油和香料

When lye and oils are both at 97 degrees F slowly pour the lye into the oils stirring well for a minute or two then add powdered spices after the oils and lye have been mixed together. Then add the fragrance oil and be prepared to mix and pour quickly into one or two rectangular plastic molds that have been greased with shortening and covered with parchment paper to prevent sticking. Note: As soon as you add the scent oils the soap mixture will start to thicken. You must mix quickly and get the mixture into the mold asap. The silicone or plastic mold should be approx.  8” w x 14” x 7” High . or you can use two smaller molds.

1 盎司肉桂
1 盎司姜粉
1汤匙丁香粉

用搅拌器和 1 杯肥皂混合物搅拌均匀，然后倒回水壶中。

添加 4 盎司来自 www.brambleberry.com 的姜饼香料，快速搅拌，然后将混合物倒入模具中。

将肥皂放入模具后，用布和毯子盖住，或放入隔热冷却器中放置 36 小时，然后再切成条。

将巧克力棒放置约 2 周，用羊皮纸包裹，然后用姜饼男孩圣诞纸或布料包裹。系上丝带，加上从旧节日贺卡上剪下的吊牌，作为一份特别的手工礼物。