*Gingerbread Men

This is a really great recipe for ginger-bread biscuits, they have a lovely rich flavour, and are not too gingery...(add more ginger if you want a stronger ginger flavour).You Will Need
225g/8oz plain flour
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ginger-bread spice
½ tsp bicarb. of soda
75g/3oz butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tbsp black treacle 55g /2oz soft light brown sugar
20g/1oz oz dark muscavado sugar
1 tbsp water
50g/2oz icing sugar (to decorate)



MethodThe oven should be set to 180°C/350°/gas 4, and two baking trays need to be greased. You will need a cooling wrack.
Sift together the flour, spices & bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. Place the butter, syrup, treacle, sugar & water in a saucepan over a low heat. Heat gently till the butter has melted & all the sugar dissolved. Cool for 5 minutes.
Pour syrup into the flour mixture and blend to a soft dough. Leave covered for 30 minutes before rolling out to about 3mm thick. Cut into shapes with a cutter and place on the baking trays. Bake for about 10 minutes till golden.
Mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a thick paste and decorate with a piping bag or cocktail stick.

Click on the labels below to find more recipes with ginger-bread spice or with ginger.

Orange Ginger-Bread

I found this recipe in an 1932 cookbook that I bought from a carboot sale, along with lots of other cutouts and hand written recipes. The orange gingerbread is particularly tasty, Nial helped me to cook a loaf, and it didn't last long! Unlike other gingerbread recipes there is no treacle, which alot of people don't have in their kitchen. As a festive recipe (though it is delicious all year round), it is great with the eggnog cream.
I've translated the measurements into metric;
YOU WILL NEED
225g plain flour
113g butter
85g sugar
113g golden syrup
1 tsp ginger (I also added 1/2 tsp gingerbread spice)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 orange, rind and juice
1 egg
METHOD
Beat the butter and sugar to a cream and add the golden syrup. Mix in the flour, the orange juice and the egg alternately, then add the orange rind. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in a tsp of warm water, add to the mixture, place in a flat cake tin lined with greased paper, and bake on a moderate oven (gas 3/325F/160C) for 40 minutes.