Inspired by La Redécouverte | Yann Tiersen

Gingerbread Men are for sure delicious but pretty boring. As the holidays approach we find them everywhere we go… I had this idea of rediscovering this holiday classic improvising with daring ingredients : try them out without spices but with passion fruit instead !

| Ingredients |

_ 300g of flour 

_ 120g of brown sugar

_ 100g of unsalted butter

_ 200g icing sugar

_ 1 dose of baking powder 

_ 4 medium passion fruit (not that difficult to find, look around!)

_ half an orange

_ 1 egg

_ organic food coloring

| Method |

The first step should be making a solid mixture, without getting a headache. Start by mixing the flour, the brown sugar, the baking powder and the butter (room temperature) cut into dices. Don’t be afraid… go with your hands, you have to feel the pastry!

Mix well until you get a “sablée” crust. Add the passion fruit pul as well as 100g of icing sugar. Mix again then finally add the juice of half an orange.

Normally you should get a sticky pastry, work it well, but if it’s too sticky add some flour (without excess!). Film it and let it rest in the fridge for 2 hours.

Now it’s time for the step people are often afraid of : rolling the pastry. To make it easier I advice on spreading it between two sheets of baking paper. Then preferably with a wooden roll (but worse case scenario with a glass bottle) spread it alternating horizontal and vertical movements until the pastry matches the shape of the rectangle drawn by the baking paper.

At this moment you should preheat your oven to 180°. Now take out the superior baking paper sheet start using your cookie cutter by pressing and moving a little in order to separate your Passionbread Men from the rest of the pastry.

Place them on a new sheet of baking paper and bake it during 10-15 minutes. Timing varies according to how crusty vs. spongy you want them. Try to balance between both for an ideal result : crusty on the edges, spongy on the middle. Watch them closely!

While they are baking you can work on the frosting! Do to so : mix the white egg with the remaining 100g of icing sugar. Pour the mixture on several small bowls according to how many color you want to use and go crazy ! A last tip : to improvise a pastry bag all you need to do is to pour the mixture into a freezer/ziploc bag and make a small incision on one of the corners.

♪ La Redécouverte…