Have been wanting to make gingerbread ever since I read a story where two women were held hostage in a petrol pump while the gingerbread house they had in the car was robbed! Since architectural wonders like a gingerbread house are beyond my limited skills, I settled on plain gingerbread instead. The recipe has been staring accusingly at me for over two weeks, and on the last day before the school holidays, I finally made it.
A little bit of history, before we begin. The
best gingerbread I've ever tasted used to be made by a friend of my
mother. Cancer claimed her, and unfortunately her daughter no longer has
the recipe. But I do remember that she'd told me that her mother used jaggery
and jaggery syrup in place of brown sugar and golden syrup, so that's
how I adapted this recipe.
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
125g butter
175g light soft brown sugar
1 free-range egg
4 tbsp golden syrup
Method
- Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon and pour into the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and blend until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.Lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together, add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. Tip the dough out, knead briefly until smooth, wrap in clingfim and leave to chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.Preheat the oven to 180CLine two baking trays with greaseproof paper.Roll the dough out to a 0.5cm thickness on a lightly floured surface. Using cutters, cut out the gingerbread men shapes and place on the baking tray, leaving a gap between them.Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown. Leave on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.
I don't have a gingerbread man cookie cutter, but still wanted at least one gingerbread man, so I made this by hand. The poor guy split down the middle, but who cares?
And ah, the aroma of gingerbread in the oven! Smelt like Paradise.
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