Types of gingerbread | Original St. Wolfganger Gingerbread (2024)

FAQs

What are the different types of gingerbread? ›

The three distinct types of gingerbread are brown gingerbread, wafer-based gingerbread and honey gingerbread.

In America we have two names for these: molasses cookies or gingerbread. These are either thick moist and chewy or the gingerbread cookies can be harder and something one rolls out and cuts into shapes, baked and decorated. We also have ginger snap cookies that are small drops, crisp/hard and spicy sweet.

Gingerbread, as we know it today, descends from Medieval European culinary traditions. Gingerbread was also shaped into different forms by monks in Franconia, Germany in the 13th century. Lebkuchen bakers are recorded as early as 1296 in Ulm and 1395 in Nuremberg.

Gingerbread is believed to have originated in its earliest form in 2400BC ancient Greece. Surprisingly, this recipe didn't contain any ginger at all – and was actually a honey cake.

Victorian cook Sarah Nelson invented Grasmere Gingerbread® in 1854 in the English Lake District village from where it gets its name. A unique, spicy-sweet cross between a biscuit and cake, its reputation quickly spread and it is now enjoyed by food lovers all over the world.

We baked the World's Largest Gingerbread Man Cookie!

He weighed 1,308 lbs, 8 oz and measured 20 feet from head-to-toe.

​Superstitions about gingerbread flourished in the 17th century. Witches supposedly made gingerbread figures, ate them, and thereby caused the death of their enemies. Dutch magistrates went so far as to declare baking or eating molded cookies illegal.

In 2018, the highest levels of gingerbread per capita consumption was registered in the Netherlands (2,361 kg per 1000 persons), followed by Germany (886 kg per 1000 persons), Belgium (799 kg per 1000 persons) and Spain (748 kg per 1000 persons), while the world average per capita consumption of gingerbread was ...

Gingerbread's delightful combination of flavours and spices isn't just a treat for the taste buds; it's also a potential boon for your health. From its anti-inflammatory properties to its digestive benefits, gingerbread offers an unexpected array of advantages that can complement a well-rounded diet.

Nuremberg was recognized as the "Gingerbread Capital of the World" when in the 1600s the guild started to employ master bakers and skilled workers to create complicated works of art from gingerbread. Medieval bakers used carved boards to create elaborate designs.

What city is known for gingerbread? ›

TORUN, Poland — This medieval city on the banks of the Vistula River is known for two things: astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus and gingerbread cookies.

In Medieval England gingerbread meant preserved ginger. The hard cookies were a staple at Medieval fairs in England and on the continent. These became known as “gingerbread fairs” and the cookies called “fairings”.

“There are some gingerbread recipes that are hard right after baking and need to sit for a few days to soften. Molasses and honey hardens gingerbread, but as the sugar absorbs moisture, it will get softer.”

Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses.

Both are spiced cookies. The main differences are that gingersnaps are typically rolled into balls, while gingerbread is rolled out and cut into shapes. Gingersnaps are also baked slightly longer, which is where they get their snappy crispiness. Gingerbread is typically a little chewier.

gingerbread, in architecture and design, elaborately detailed embellishment, either lavish or superfluous. Although the term is occasionally applied to highly detailed and decorative styles, it is more often applied specifically to the work of American designers of the late 1860s and '70s.