Signature Gingerbread Recipe

This recipe is hands down the best one I’ve ever used and makes perfect gingerbread dough every single time. I can’t claim ownership of it – I found it on the web a long time ago though I have tweaked it a little to suit my purposes. One quantity of this recipe makes one of our standard gingerbread houses with a bit left over for cookies and further decoration. If you need to go larger just double up the recipe.

You will need a standing mixer for the dough unless you want arms like Popeye. The dough is very stiff, much stiffer than usual cookie dough and a hand held electric mixer just won’t cut the mustard. You can do it by hand if you really really want to but quite frankly it’s knackering. However, if you fancy a break from the gym and want to make the dough that way, then knock yourself out!

 

 

Ingredients

750g plain flour

300g brown sugar

170g unsalted butters, softened

125g treacle

125g golden syrup

4 tsp ground ginger

4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tbsp water

Pinch of salt

 

Instructions

 

  1. Place the softened butter and sugar in the mixer and turn on a low to medium speed until combined.
  2. Add in eggs, water, treacle and golden syrup and mix until combined. It will probably look a bit syrupy and disgusting at this stage!
  3. In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, spices and salt.
  4. Turn mixer off and add in flour mixture. Turn back on on a low speed or you’ll send flour flying everywhere!
  5. Your mixer may sound like it is struggling as the flour is incorporated. If so, turn it up to a slightly higher speed until a thick dough is formed and starting to come away from the edges of the bowl.
  6. Once well-combined, turn the dough out into some cling film and wrap tightly. Let it rest at room temp for several hours, preferably overnight, to firm up before using.

 

Preparing and Cooking Tips

 

  • Dust a work surface with plain flour. Roll out your pieces to approximately 5mm thick
  • Heat your oven to 180c/350f for cooking
  • Lay the pieces on greaseproof paper.
  • Cooking times vary depending on the size of the pieces you’re cooking. Small pieces up to about 3″ across usually take around 6-8 minutes, medium sized pieces (about 5″ diameter) around 10-12 minutes and large pieces (7″ plus) can take 14-15 minutes of even longer
  • When you first put your pieces in they will look quite wet. They will be done when the wet look has gone and they are slightly browning around the edges. They may still soft to the touch once you take them out the oven but don’t worry, they’ll firm up as they cool.

 

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