Top tips on making your own gingerbread
Baking some homemade gingerbread biscuits to leave out for Father Christmas or icing a gingerbread house are just two traditions that many of us enjoy during the festive season.
The origins of gingerbread
Gingerbread has become a culinary staple of Christmas, but where did it originate? An early form can be traced to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, who used it for ceremonial purposes.
It also made an appearance in Europe in the 11th century, when Crusaders brought back ginger from the Middle East for aristocrats’ cooks to experiment with.
As ginger and other spices became more affordable, gingerbread caught on. An early recipe consisted of ground almonds, stale breadcrumbs, rosewater, sugar and ginger, mixed into a paste and pressed into wooden moulds.
The first gingerbread man
In the 16th century, the English replaced the breadcrumbs with flour and added eggs and sweeteners. The first gingerbread man is credited to Queen Elizabeth I, who presented various dignitaries with one baked to their own likeness.
Make your own at home
If you want to get into the tradition of making gingerbread during the festivities, whether it’s to eat for yourself, to gift to others or as a fun activity with the children, with the results left out for Father Christmas with his glass of milk, then follow this handy recipe here:
Our gingerbread recipe is a closely guarded secret, but this recipe, which comes from BBC Good Food is great, and worth a try.
Ingredients:
- 100g salted butter
- 3 tbsp golden syrup
- 100g dark muscovado sugar
- 1/2 a tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 225g plain flour
- 50g icing sugar
Method:
- Heat the butter, syrup and sugar together until melted. Set aside to cool
- Mix the bicarb, ginger, cinnamon and flour in a large bowl. Pour in the buttery syrup mix and combine. Use your hands to bring it together to form a dough. Add one tbsp of milk if needed to help it combine
- Pop the dough on a sheet of baking parchment, shape into a rectangle and lay another sheet of parchment on top, with a rolling pin, roll the dough to a thickness of half a centimetre. Pop in the fridge for an hour
- Heat your oven to 190°C/170°C fan/Gas mark five and line another baking tray with backing parchment.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and cut into your desired shapes using a cookie cutter. You can make holes in order to thread ribbon through them once cooked and hang them on the tree
- Space the shapes evenly on the baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes. Leave to cool completely on the tray.
- Mix the icing sugar with one to two tbsp of water to create a thick and pipeable icing. Decorate your biscuits using a piping bag.
Or you could just buy from us!
Of course, if you just don’t have the time to bake your own this year, then don’t worry. You can pop in and purchase some of our delicious gingerbread goodies from our counter. See our festive opening hours here.