LICITAR - Licitarski kalupi

Licitar moulds are the most precious utensils that the producers of mead and gingerbread possess. They are hand-made from copper. With their unique shape, they bring soul to the sweet dough used for the production of the well-known licitars. Therefore, their owners jealously keep them within the family over generations.

How to make licitar?

Licitar is a sweet cake. It's made of dough which used to be sweetened by honey. Nowadays, sugar which is much cheaper is used for the same purpose. However, you will first sense its sweet taste with your heart and then with your tastebuds. Therefore, by using licitar moulds and ingredients that we provide you with, as well as with skilled hands and a good eye, licitar are made reflecting the brightness of the hills and valleys of the Zagreb region and some elements of a family atmosphere.

To make licitars, you will need the following ingredients:

For the dough

1 kg of sugar

6 cups of water

300 gm of licitar yeast (biocarbonate of soda)

2 kg of plain flour

For the glaze

1 kg of gelatine

3 cups of water

food colouring

For the decoration

Gelatine

Sugar syrup

Potato flour

Food colouring

1. Use the ingredients to make the dough. Leave it for one hour and then reknead it and roll it out on the table with a rolling pin. Shape licitars with licitar moulds and place them in a metal pan previously greased with oil and sprinkled with flour. Place licitars in a preheated oven and bake them for several minutes at 300 degrees. After baking them, remove the remaining flour and leave them for several days to dry.

2. Place the gelatine into the water, stir and cook on vapour until stiff. Add some colouring. Small licitars carefully dip into the glaze. Hang them up to dry (at least for a day). Place the glaze on larger licitars by using a pastry brush.

3. For the decoration, make a mixture of the above mentioned ingredients and fill a pastry bag with nozzles depending on the decoration you want. Press the bag and make decorations on licitars. When the decoration dries, licitars are ready.

Ingredients and some photos are taken from the book «Gingerbread skills» published by Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb.