Medieval Gingerbread Yule Dolls

8 ounces clear honey
Ľ teaspoon ground black pepper
˝ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Ľ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
8 ounces white or brown dried bread crumbs (If you buy these in a package, make sure they are not seasoned for use as turkey stuffing.)
whole cloves
optional: pinch of saffron

Warm the honey in a saucepan. Add the ground spices. Stir well to mix. Add the bread crumbs and again stir well, making sure the bread crumbs absorb all the honey. If necessary, add extra bread crumbs. Cook gently for two minutes. Take care not to burn.

Pour thick slab of mixture onto a flat sheet or board. It’s hot; spread with a spatula. Flatten it out to about ˝ inch thick.

Using gingerbread cookie cutters, cut out Yule dolls. Decorate with the cloves.

The recipe suggests cooking in a slow oven at 350 F for 15 minutes, then cooling. I’m not sure why; it never seemed to make a bit of difference.

When cool, put in refrigerator on cookie sheets and chill for at least 24 hours before serving.

These are gooey cookies. In Medieval times, gingerbread was just that-gingered bread crumbs stuck together with honey.

According to Costman, gingerbread Yule dolls were served during the 12 days of Yule.

If you want to get really historically correct, you can make a paint using egg yokes and natural food dyes.

Green-mint, parsley
Yellow-saffron, dandelion
Red-roses, sandalwood, alkanet
Blue-blue turnsoule, heliotrope
Purple-violets

I’ve never tried using these paints.

Practical Celebration Recipies & Prep
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