Gingerbread is a wonderful spicy soft biscuit made most famous by the house of the witch in Hansel and Gretel, or by the little gingerbread man running from the little old lady’s oven. Gingerbread is also commonly made for holidays such as Easter or Christmas cut to appropriate shapes and often garnished with icing, sprinkles and dried fruit.
I have made all sorts of biscuits both professionally and at home just for family and even blogged some of them. However, I always struggled to find a good gingerbread recipe as the mix would be either too soft to roll, the biscuits too hard when baked or would not retain their cut-out shape.
I was talking to my friend Lou of @louloucooks_ on Instagram about gingerbread, and about my problems finding a good recipe and she sent me one she had found. I subsequently amended, partly on what I had in the cupboard, and partly preference (more ginger). We each made a batch at the same time and enjoyed our respective bakes with a cuppa.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we have, but now I have to Run, Run as fast as I can! You can’t catch me I’m the VincehomeMade man !
Gingerbread biscuits
Traditional Gingerbread to make into gingerbread men or gingerbread women, with a warm spicy taste you will love.
Biscuit dough
- 375 g plain flour (plus extra for rolling out)
- 5 g baking powder
- 120 g unsalted butter (cold)
- 3 g salt
- 10 g dried ginger
- 175 g brown sugar
- 5 tbsp golden syrup
- 1 each eggs
Icing for decoration
- 1 each egg white
- 200 g Icing Sugar / Confectioners’ Sugar
- food colouring (optional)
- 100's and 1,000's / sprinkles (optional)
Pre-heat the oven to [wprm-temperature value=”180″ unit=”C” icon=”oven-fan”]
Line 3 biscuit baking trays with greaseproof paper or silicone mats
Combine the plain flour, ginger, salt and baking powder in a sieve and pass through to the mixing bowl.
Cube the butter and add to the flour bowl. Mix until it resembles fine breadcrumbs with no large lumps.
Add the Sugar and mix then add the golden syrup and egg and mix until a dough forms.
Putting the golden syrup in a bowl of warm water prior to weighing makes it easier to spoon out.
Beat the dough briskly to make a smooth dough, then knead to form a ball.
Lightly flour your worksurface and roll the dough to about 5 mm thick. Then cut out your desired shapes, please these on the baking tray.
Reform your offcuts and repeat the above process until all the dough is transformed into biscuits.
Bake for 10 minutes until golden, or a further minute for crisper biscuits
Allow to cool completely on the tray.
Decorating
Separate the egg white from the yolk and place in a small mixing bowl
Sieve the icing sugar onto the white and stir well with a spoon.
Do not use an electric mixer as that will beat air bubbles into the mix.
If you want to add colouring, stir in a drop at a time until the desired colour is reached.
Pour and scrape into a piping bag and decorate the biscuits as you wish.
If using sprinkles, 100's and 1,000s or similar use the icing to stick in place.
An alternative to icing for decoration is to push small pieces of dried fruit into the raw biscuits prior to baking. According to the traditional story, it is " .. his eyes from two fat currants… his nose and mouth from lemon peel… and his coat from sugar…".
They will need to be pushed in well so they stay in place so I suggest using the tip of a skewer.
These are best if left for a day to allow the ginger flavour to blossom fully. If you try them while still warm they are quite bland, but after a couple of days they are really something good!
They can be stored in a closed jar or plastic container for a couple of weeks on your countertop. Just keep away from heat or sunlight, especially if iced and ensure the icing is fully dried before putting away.
VinceHomeMade 