Grandma's gingerbread

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 250 g honey
• 250 g beetroot
• 500 g sugar
• 125 g lard
• 10 g ammonium bicarbonate
• 15 g potash
• 100 ml raspberry liqueur
• 500 g wheat flour
• 500 g rye flour
• 125 g raisins
• 75 g candied lemon peel
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp clove powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• 125 g almonds, ground
• Flour for the work surface and for dusting

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest period approx. 5 days; Cooking/baking time approx. 15 minutes; Total time approx. 5 days 1 hour

from the county of Glatz in Silesia

Bring the honey, beetroot syrup, sugar, and lard to a boil, stirring well. Then let it cool. Dissolve the baking powder and potash in the raspberry brandy. Sift both flours into a large mixing bowl. Finely chop the raisins and candied lemon peel. Add the spices, almonds, raisins, candied lemon peel, and eggs. Then pour the raspberry brandy, baking powder, and potash mixture over the flour dough. Pour the cooled honey, beetroot syrup, sugar, and fat mixture over the flour dough and knead with the dough hook of a hand mixer, food processor, or by hand until a heavy dough forms. Caution: Only powerful food processors can do this. Transfer the dough to a bowl, dust lightly with flour, and cover and let rest in a cool place, e.g., a cellar, for about 5 days. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of 5–7 mm, cut out the desired shapes, and spread onto baking sheets lined with baking paper. Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 200°C (top/bottom heat) for approximately 10-12 minutes. Be careful, the cookies will expand, so leave some space. Don’t use molds that are too fine. Remove the figures from the baking sheet while they’re still hot and let them cool on a wire rack. When it comes to decorating, your imagination is the limit. The cookies taste delicious simply decorated with a peeled, halved almond, or with almond and chocolate, or with icing.