Gingerbread Recipe

I went to Lauren's this weekend and we decided to do some baking. We wanted to make something festive (I LOVE CHRISTMAS), and so we decided that gingerbread was within our limited baking repertoire. We listened to a christmas playlist and baked away, and we actually made some pretty decent gingerbread, but you will have to take my word for it, because I stupidly forgot to photograph the end result.

You Will Need:

• 350g of plain flour, and a little extra for when you're rolling out your dough
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 2 teaspoons of ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon 
• 125g of butter 
• 175g of soft brown sugar
• 1 egg 
• 4 tablespoons of golden syrup

You can then decant the ingredients into bowels/tubs once you've measured it all, which is not only aesthetically pleasing but actually speeds up the process of baking because everything is ready to go, and you aren't scramble around for ingredients as you go along. It actually makes everything a little less chaotic and you 100% will feel like a domestic goddess. Promise. 

You simply need to add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon into a bowel, making sure you sieve your flour to get rid of any lumps. Stir to combine all these dry ingredients. Then add the butter in small chunks. If like us you are doing everything by hand, just rub the butter into the dry ingredients, until your mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Alternatively you could do this in a food processor if you prefer. Then stir in the sugar a little at a time until it is all combined. 

In a separate bowl, beat together the egg and golden syrup. Add to the bowl/food processor and mix until you have a dough. I found I had to add about three tablespoons of water to combine the mixture properly. It is also easier if you use floured hands to stick it all together. Then wrap it in clingfilm and pop it in the fridge for 15-30 minutes to firm up.

Then remove the dough from the fridge, flour your surface and you can roll out your gingerbread and cut it out into shapes. We had star cutters, so we made stars. You could attempt some free-hand designs, or just use cutters of any shape. You then bake your gingerbread on a lined baking tray for 12-15 minutes at 180 degrees/gas mark 4/350F. Leave to cool and enjoy.