Nothing quite beats the aroma of baking gingerbread.

As promised today I am going to share with you my favourite gingerbread man recipe.
 
The first gingerbread man appears to be credited to Elizabeth 1 who gave one to each of visiting dignitaries designed to look like them. I understand that they were once given as a token of love.
 
Gingerbread today is presented to us in many forms from the simplest of biscuits, Christmas decorations or gingerbread people to wonderful decorated house like the one we see in Hansel and Gretel. (You will see from my schedule of blogs that I hope to create a gingerbread house on the 26th Nov, this is the same recipe that I would use for the house. If you know you are limited to time but would like to decorate a house there are some great ones available. Ikea usually do some good ones.)
 
Why do I love gingerbread so much?:
 
Besides the wonderful aroma that fills your house, it evokes some wonderful memories of baking with my children and their friends and not just when they were small children. And when all is said and done it tastes delicious.

Gingerbread Ingredients:
 
350g                Plain Flour
1tsp                 Bicarbonate of Soda
2tsp                 Ground Ginger
1tsp                 Ground Cinnamon
125g                Butter
175g                Light Brown Soft Sugar
1                      Egg
4 tblsp             Golden Syrup
 
Method:

•  Pre heat the oven to 180c/160c fan/ Gas mark 4
• Sift together in a bowl the flour, bicarbonate of Soda, Ginger and cinnamon. Tip: remember to take off all your rings before doing this next bit.  Add the butter, I cut it into small cubes first. Blend in with your hands until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Now stir in the sugar.
• Lightly beat the egg and the golden syrup together then add them to the rest of the mixture. Now the really messy bit (I think this is why the kids love it so much). You need to get your hands into the bowl and bind it all together with your hands. Once you think you have managed to combine it all tip the contents out onto a lightly dusted with flour surface and knead it gently until you have a smooth mound.  Now wrap it in clingfilm and transfer it to the fridge for 15 mins.
• Line two baking Trays with greaseproof paper, the largest trays you have that will fit in the oven. The recipe will make a lot of gingerbread.
• Lightly flour the surface then roll out the dough until it is approx. ¼ inch thick, Using your gingerbread man cutters (You can purchase these is most supermarkets or Amazon have a wide range of shapes and sizes. Tip its worth investing in a slightly better one if you want it to last as the cheaper ones can easily become misshapen. Now place each of your gingerbread men on the tray leaving some space between each one as they will expand slightly in the oven.
• Bake for 12-15 mins or until lightly golden brown, if you like a crunch definitely go for the full 15 mins.
• Remove from the oven and leave on the tray for 15 mins then move onto a cooling tray to cool down. (I usually leave mine for a couple of hours before decorating if possible. The beauty is they will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer so you can always put half the batch away to pull out and decorate another day.

 
Now for the decorating:

There really is not right or wrong way to decorate your gingerbread people, give yourself permission to be as creative as you like.
 
Ingredients you will need:
 
3          Egg Whites
600g    Icing Sugar
1 tsp    Liquid Glucose
1tsp     Lemon Juice
Food colouring
 
If you are not likely to use the food colouring again I would recommend just getting the ready made colour icing kits from Asda it will save you a great deal of time and expense and they are perfect for children to use. However, if you fancy making your own, you will be able to keep in the fridge what you don’t use to use on your gingerbread house and Christmas Tree Brownies.
 
Method:
 

• Whisk your egg whites until they are gently whipped. Add the icing sugar slowly otherwise you will disappear behind a cloud of dust, whisk until it is all mixed in then add the glucose and lemon juice. Now you need to keep whisking until it is thick enough to form stiff peaks and it looks smooth and shiny.
• At this point I split the icing into 6 different small pots with lids. Taking each pot in turn I add a small amount of food colouring, either paste or gel just be careful if you use a liquid as it will change the consistency of your icing. Once you have prepared your icing you’re ready to start decorating.
• You will need some disposable icing bags. If you have icing nozzles then great you simply need to chose how thick you want your icing and use that nozzle. If however you don’t have any simply cut the smallest piece of the pointed end of your icing bag. Be careful you really only need a small hole. Hold the outside of the bag in your hand roll the bag down, turning it slightly inside out so that you can see inside the bag near the bottom, start to place the icing inside and as you fill the bag roll your hand up slowly closing the bag as you go.

• ​If you are new to icing you might want to tie up the end of the bag or wrap an elastic bag around it so that you don’t squeeze the icing back up out of the bag.
• No Simply take the bag in your hand like a pen and gently squeeze until the icing comes out. From here on in it really is a case of practice, practice, practice. If anyone really struggles with this let me know and I will try to create a short video for you.
• Once decorated let them dry for 30 mins then you are free to enjoy them. They will keep easily for 3-4 days in an air tight container.

 
If you read yesterday’s post I mentioned using the gingerbread recipe to make a stocking filler present for your children here is a pic of the one I created this morning. The label simply gives the additional ingredients needed, i.e an egg and some butter. You will see the syrup is inside in a small pot.

I really hope you will all have fun with this. I look forward to seeing some of your gingerbread men / People.
 
Tomorrow, I am going to start to look at how to create simple fondant decorations for your Christmas Cakes. Till then have a pleasant evening x