Swiss Alpine Gingerbreads

fx

Wed, 9 Mar 2016 17:02:58 GMT

They are indeed delicious

fx

Thu, 3 Mar 2016 12:26:44 GMT

Thank you Mechelle I will try to do better next time.

Dany

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 08:21:32 GMT

Boy, they sound great!You make them, and I"ll help eat them I think there is an English company, Pims, that makes them. So, they could be English. We can get them in Canada, at lrager groceries at least.

Mechelle

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:27:08 GMT

This recipe was very difficult to follow. The pictures are not an accurate depiction of what the result is in reality. Many complications arouse while following this recipe. Complications due to the lack of guidance in the recipe. The end result was very difficult to get to but tasty.

fx

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:14:16 GMT

Gingerbreads is the generic name, in English, of cookies that use spices normally used for savory dishes. The word we use in French is more generic "pain d"�pice" or spicebreads. If you put ginger in every recipe, their own personality might get lost. This particular "gingerbread" takes its character from cloves, not ginger.

JT

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:21:48 GMT

OK,, but where is the GINGER? I,ve worked at Andres swiss pastry shop 7 years and rolands swiss pastry shop we always put ginger(fresh or ground in ) Gingerbread,, Typical swiss don t add tant por tant flour n sugar thats too t sweet,, lol

fx

Thu, 4 Dec 2008 08:42:37 GMT

Alex, thanks a lot for your kinds words! Yes it is very intriguing to see the chocolate melt in that little water, the liquid is used more as lubricant to transmit the heat than as a solvent. The chocolate melts readily when heated, and you don"t want it too runny or your biscuits will take forever to dry. Good luck!

Alex

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 03:20:33 GMT

Thanks a lot! I never tried melting chocolate with so little water before (because I heard that the chocolate could seize), so I"m curious to see how this will turn out. By the way, yours is the most amazing blog on the internet, on any subject! Keep up the good work!

fx

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 03:12:18 GMT

Alex, I am most sorry, indeed 1tablespoon is only 1.5 cl and 15ml. My bad!

Alex

Mon, 1 Dec 2008 09:39:08 GMT

Hi!
This recipe looks delicious, can"t wait to try it! I"m having difficulty understanding the water measurements though:

"15cl (1 tbsp) water"

Could you please clarify what you mean? I think that 15cl (150ml) is a lot more than a tablespoon...

fx

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:54:34 GMT

Lillian, I do grind the whole cloves but it does not seem impossible that the taste differs between the "stem" and the "calyx". Perhaps you could cut your cloves in half, grind them separately, taste and report back? I"d be very interested.

Lillian

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:53:36 GMT

Thank you for you site filled with such delicious recipes and beautiful photographs! When you grind the cloves, do you grind just the buds of the cloves (the crumbly, round petals at the top part), or do you grind the entire clove (including the calyx)? I was taught to grind just the buds, but I"m not sure if this is necessary. My cloves will go a lot further if I grind the whole thing. I"d like to make these for Thanksgiving--I think they will be a hit with my family. Thank you!

fx

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:09:04 GMT

Clemence, I use a little glass bowl placed atop my Kenwood kitchen machine, a product originally designed in Britain!

Cl�mence

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:04:42 GMT

FX, many many thanks for a truly magnificent website. A boring question for you: what kind of grinder do you use for spices? I coudn"t quite see from the pepper cookies recipe photos, but I"d love to know: I"ve never come across anything that does the job properly so far.
Cl�mence (Scotland)

fx

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:39:29 GMT

Meramarina I just acquired a book about Appenzel baking the other day and will certainly try to publish an article on this!

fx

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:36:53 GMT

Amy you can find similar wooden bowls on Ebay with the keywords "Dough Bowl", hand carved by farmers in the US of A.

fx

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 02:34:09 GMT

Jennifer, indeed it is confectioner"s sugar, I updated the recipe.

Jennifer

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:55:14 GMT

Beautiful! I must try these. I have a question, though.. for the glaze, did you use confectioner"s (powdered) sugar? I think that"s what I see in the photo, but the recipe just says "sugar".

Meramarina

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:14:31 GMT

Ach!--typo! -- should have written "Biberli" . . . must be crumbs in my keyboard . . .

Amy S.

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:02:52 GMT

Those look fabulous! I cannot wait to try them.

Also, I am loving the big wooden bowl!

Meramarina

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:35:44 GMT

May I request another cookie? Please show us how to make Appenzeller Bibeli! I bought some from a little bakery in Appenzell and I meant to bring them home, but they were so good I ate them all! Please please please? They were sooooo good!
(and I"ll be adding some Magenbrot to my holiday baking . . . which I might start today!)

fx

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:18:28 GMT

Bec I hope you"ll get to bake a couple trays of these, they would last for a week if they were not so delicious!

bec

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:32:58 GMT

These look absolutely delicious - I"m drooling over my keyboard as I type this ... thank you again for sharing this little gem

fx

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:19:02 GMT

Hazel, envy is a cruel mistress, never quite satisfied, always asking for more. Dump her and go bake my cookies.

fx

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:18:16 GMT

Belinda, Wikipedia"s page on Pain d"Epice is translated as Gingergread.

fx

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:16:50 GMT

Indeed excess is a most delicious path to perdition, and you just can"t stop eating these little guys!

fx

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:14:47 GMT

Laura thanks for saving my English translation! I also love Lebkuchen and indeed the chocolate coated ones are quite close to the Magenbrot.

Laura D.

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:48:14 GMT

Any spice cookie or cake can reasonably be called gingerbread in English, even if it doesn"t contain ginger (though most do). These are among my favorite sweets. Thanks for the recipe, which is new to me. I"ve been making Lebkuchen most years, which I adore, but this year I think I"ll give these a try. I can"t wait for Christmas!

Richard Bijster

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:08:07 GMT

These look rather simple, yet scanalously indulgent. I believe that one will never be enough. Oh well, like Oscar Wilde said, "nothing succeeds like excess" and I like that. I"ll be trying this little number out on several of my friends this weekend.

Belinda from C�tes d'Armor, France

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:15:44 GMT

"Pain d"�pice" is more "Spice Cake"... however you CAN use the term Gingerbread... if you put ginger IN it. ;-)

These look luscious and I"ll be making them for the holiday season. Looking forward to more cookies/biscuits.

Thank you for such a pleasurable site!

HazelStone

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:08:17 GMT

Once again, my envy of you grows!

-Hazel

fx

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:30:39 GMT

Rosa, I never actually thought I could make my own Magenbrot but it"s so worth doing!

fx

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:30:03 GMT

Rodrigo, I am not sure these would really work all that well in hot espresso, the ressemblance to cantucci is only in the shape, the gingerbreads are richer than their bone-dry Italian cousins.

fx

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:28:33 GMT

Oh yes Chiffonade, I also love gingerbread and actually made this a couple months ago. I was saving it for Christmas but published so many Reportage and Food Experiences that I felt a good little food porn article was long overdue!

fx

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:27:04 GMT

The Funny Food Pornographer, that"s me!

fx

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:25:41 GMT

Cris, I hope you get to try this Swiss classic!

fx

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:24:35 GMT

Tosca indeed I think letting them dry on baking paper should work better than on a grate. Glad the Scandinavian Apple Pie worked for you!

fx

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:23:27 GMT

Glad you like my site, Vespa Rossa!

fx

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:22:52 GMT

Donna, I think the first two dozens of these cookies really help digestion, after that, it depends on the size of your stomach more than anything.

fx

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:21:11 GMT

Hazelstone I just had lunch today opposite the local branch of the Lackerlihus, a shop that only sells Leckerlis! Yes, it"s my plan to make an article about this and also other Christmas cookies.

fx

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:20:12 GMT

Yrhumble, I believe the translation of "Pain d"�pice" in English to be Gingerbread, correct? Or is there another word for the family of cookies that contain spices associated with Christmas? Now some of these cookies do not contain ginger, but shall we cast them out of the family for this?

yrhumble

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:53:36 GMT

And here is the question from the bottom of the class --
What does this mean, no ginger in the gingerbread?

Lost in Kansas,
yrhumble

HazelStone

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:58:05 GMT

Francois,
Is there any chance you could do a piece on Basler Laekerli (please pardon my lack of accent marks)? BL is probably the finest cookie I"ve ever tasted. And I can"t go to Basel to get more!

Donna

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:45:57 GMT

Yum! "Magenbrot" literally means "stomach bread." We"re always told to use herbs and spices as an aide to digestion -- and the Germanic countries turned them into goodies.

It"s hilarious watching Americans socking down Jaegermeister as a cocktail, when it"s really a digestive aide and cough syrup!

(The little poem on the bottle goes:

"Das ist des Jaegers Ehrenschild,
dass er beschuetzt und hegt sein Wild,
weidmannisch jagt, wie sich"s gehoert,
den Schoepfer in Geschopfe ehrt."

"It is the hunter"s shield of honor,
that he protects and cares for his game,
sportingly hunts, as is proper,
honoring the Creator in (His) creation.")

vespa rossa

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:55:50 GMT

You have one of the most gorgeous sites around -- I love to read your recipes and really enjoy all of the background history (and of course the mouth watering pictures).

Tosca

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:55:38 GMT

It looks delicious! I will certainly try this one out. BTW: I already baked your sour cream applepie twice: once with and once without baking shell. Oh and pherhaps it is a good idea to use baking paper or wax paper as a surface for your cookies. Because now you put them on a rack and oven plate, and it gets kind of messy because the chocolate leaks away. And when you would use baking paper you simply wait untill the chocolate is solid again and you can carefully remove your cookies.

cris

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:55:34 GMT

Thats great!, ginger bread with chocolate, it"s a happy combination.

Michelle

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:26:07 GMT

Bravo again! I laughed out loud reading your text - in addition to being an excellent food pornographer, you"re very funny as well!

chiffonade

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:58:59 GMT

My eyes almost flew out of my head at the sight of the word GINGERBREAD. (That rhymes - unintentional.) I make gingerbread people every year but it"s obviously a different dough than the biscotti-like incarnation you feature. I make gingerbread scones and waffles as well - it"s one of my favorite flavor combinations.

Printing this recipe ASAP, as gingerbread season is nearly here!

If your office-mates ask you for recipes, the solution is easy - they need to read your blog.

Rodrigo

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:55:02 GMT

Hmmmm, I have a vision of these being dunked in strong espresso...

Thanks for the neverending stream of wholesome food porn :)