Kozuli - Arkhangelsk painted gingerbread. History, traditional recipe, painting

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Have you ever heard of roe deer? It turns out that these are traditional Arkhangelsk gingerbread, which have their own long and beautiful history. The process of their preparation turned into a whole rite. And they got such an interesting name due to the fact that most often gingerbread was made in the form of goat figurines.

Arkhangelsk roes: origin story

Roe deer are native to Arkhangelsk. They have their own special old recipe. Among the ancient Pomors, these gingerbreads were considered ritual. They baked them only once a year - during Christmas time. For this event, all family members gathered, and the men helped knead the dough. The women cut out the gingerbread cookies, baked them, sculpted them, and the children helped to decorate them.

Arkhangelsk roes were baked most often in the form of animal figures, because the northern peoples lived only at the expense of cattle breeding and crafts. The preparation of such gingerbread promised a successful hunt and offspring in the new year. In general, it was believed that such a figurine protects the house from all evil spirits. Therefore, they were not eaten immediately and not thrown away, but kept for a long time.

Different regions had their own traditional recipes. They were kept with special trepidation and no one was dedicated to them.

How did the roes paint?

Arkhangelsk roe gingerbreads were decorated with colored sweet glaze. Basically, two colors were used: white and pink. White symbolized the snow, and pink - the northern lights. The gingerbread itself was brown - the color of wood and earth.

Old Traditions

In ancient times, it was believed that roes had magical powers. There were certain traditions for carving these products. For example, animal figurines should look only to the left side, and people - in front. Often a strip was made at the bottom of the product, it symbolized the earth.

Ritual images from the dough were the prototype of gingerbread. In general, today stucco painted gingerbread is a very large ethnographic rarity, which is still preserved in the lands of the Russian North. Such figurines were baked in a special way: they made dough, then molded roes and put them in a cold place for a whole day, and only then they baked them to a golden crust. Ready-made gingerbreads were dipped several times in boiling water - supposedly this made them smoother, stronger and lighter. Thanks to this special recipe, ancient specimens of roes have come down to us. In ancient times they were placed in front of the icons, each was given its own name, so that the owners would have happiness and prosperity in the house. In addition, they were a source of pride, they boasted to the guests, so they were cooked with special diligence and love. Later, the goats began to bakefor sale. It was done by the whole family. Men made molds, cutters, women kneaded the dough, cut out figures and baked them, and even decorated everything together with the children. Each family had its own cooking recipes, which were kept in the strictest confidence and passed down from generation to generation only to their relatives.

Arkhangelsk roes are nothing but a work of folk art. They have their own ancient history, which is of great interest to art historians, artists, lovers and connoisseurs of folk art.

Arkhangelsk roes: cooking recipe

As we said earlier, each clan had its own recipe for cooking roes, which was kept secret. Over time, they were supplemented, changed, improved. However, many old recipes have come down to our time. One of them, the most versatile, we want to tell you.

For the test, we need to purchase the following products:

1. Sugar - 0.8 kg.
2. Boiled water - a little more than a 250-gram glass.
3. Chicken eggs - 3 pcs
4. Chicken egg yolks - 5 pcs
5. Butter - 2 packs (preferably 0.45 kg).
6. Wheat flour - up to two kilograms.
7. S alt - 1 teaspoon.
8. Baking soda - 2 teaspoons.
9. Ground spices - cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg. They are all added in a ratio of 2:1:1:1:1.

It turns out 3.5 kg of dough. From it you can fashion up to a hundred small gingerbread cookies or up to fifty large ones.

Step by stepcooking instructions

The dough for the Arkhangelsk roes is made on the basis of zhzhenka (the so-called caramelized sugar). It is necessary to take 0.4 kg of sugar and put it on a cold thick-walled pan with high edges. We put it on a strong fire, heat it up. When the sugar starts to melt from below, reduce the heat. Gradually, you need to bring the contents to complete dissolution, stirring vigorously. With caramel, you need to be careful not to overexpose it on fire. It should take on a pleasant brownish tint and should never smell burnt.

Once the caramel is made, immediately pour water into it in small parts, stirring vigorously. Be careful not to lean over the pan. Water with caramel will hiss and gurgle strongly. After pouring out all the water, stir the sweet mass over low heat until completely dissolved. The result is a syrup. You pour two more cups of sugar into it and stir so that it also dissolves to a state of a homogeneous brownish transparent syrup.

Then put the chopped butter in the pan, dissolve it over low heat. At first, it will float on the surface of the liquid. Remove the pan from the heat and stir for a couple of minutes. Refrigerate.

Next, in a small saucepan, beat five yolks and three eggs. Pour the mass into our syrup and mix. Add soda, s alt, all spices. We remind you that we take two parts of cinnamon, and the rest - only one part. Of course, all proportions can be changed at your discretion. A lot of spices were generally put into traditional roes. It all depends on your taste and desire.

Prepare the sifted flour. Gradually add it to our mixture, stirring with a spatula. The dough should be soft and elastic. It is very important not to put a lot of flour. Otherwise, the base will be very tight. Close the pan with a lid or cling film. We put it at night in a cold place (refrigerator, for example). You can even divide the dough into pieces, put them in bags, put them in the refrigerator if you do not plan to bake all the gingerbread at once.

If you want to bake Arkhangelsk roes on the same day, you can let the dough cool down, and then put it in the freezer for half an hour.

After the dough has matured, it will become dense, very elastic and will not stick to hands (plasticine consistency).

Cut out figures

To prepare painted gingerbread, you can use any molds. And for the manufacture of original figurines of animals, angels, snowmen, Santa Claus, you need to independently prepare patterns for stencils made of cardboard or thick paper. You won't find these cookies in stores. These will be real Arkhangelsk roes.

If you want to get thin and crispy gingerbread cookies, then roll out the dough no thicker than two or three millimeters. And if you prefer lush and tender, then up to one centimeter. Next, cut out the figures with cookie cutters, if you have them. And don't forget that animals always look to the left.

Those who made their own patterns put them on the rolled out dough and carefully cut along the outline with a knife.

Then the baking sheet is covered with bakingparchment and arrange the figures. We will bake them at two hundred degrees for no more than fifteen minutes. They dry out very quickly, so be careful not to overdo them. Wrap finished products in a towel, and when cool - put in a box. So we cooked the Arkhangelsk roes. Their recipe is not very simple, and it will take a lot of time, but what a result!

It remains only to decorate our gingerbread.

How to prepare glaze for painting?

How do you make the frosting? Arkhangelsk roes must be painted. There are an incredible number of recipes. We will give an example of one of the options.

Stock up with these products:

1. Egg white - 1 pc
2. Powdered sugar - 0.2 kg.
3. Lemon juice (freshly squeezed) - 3-4 drops.
4. Food coloring (preferably natural).

This amount of products is enough to paint fifteen gingerbread cookies.

How to paint roes?

How to decorate Arkhangelsk roes? Painting is perhaps the most difficult in the process of their manufacture. You can use a culinary syringe, or you can simply roll the bag in the form of a cone with a hole. Remember that the lines should be thin and neat. You can make any patterns. There are no restrictions here. Get creative and start drawing. You can use ethnic motifs or come up with something of your own.

More beautiful are those gingerbreads that at firstpour completely liquid glaze, and only then apply drawings on a frozen base. This option is more correct, but also more complicated. Yes, and you will have to spend more time.

To make the roes bright, add food coloring or natural colors to the glaze.

Natural dyes

Speaking about the Arkhangelsk roe deer (we painted a cooking master class), we will pay attention to what you can make colored glaze based on natural dyes from. We offer these natural alternatives:

1. White color - sugar, milk, sour cream.
2. Yellow - lemon zest.
3. Green - spinach juice, lime zest.
4. Red and pink - raspberry, strawberry, currant, lingonberry, pomegranate, boiled beet juice.
5. Orange - orange, tangerine juice.
6. Brown - cocoa powder.

Instead of afterword

If you were struck by the beauty and history of northern gingerbread, be sure to try to bake such a miracle for the holidays, please yourself and your children. Let baking kozul become a pleasant tradition in your family. It's so wonderful when on the eve of the holiday the house smells delicious!