Recipe: Gingerbread 26 November 2019

Nothing says Christmas like the aroma of homemade gingerbread and in many households it’s a staple for the festive season, whether in the form of a gingerbread house, cookies or friendly gingerbread men.

Our Executive Pastry Chef, Ryan, has shared his recipe which he uses to create extra large tiles and build the impressive gingerbread house which can be admired in our lobby. Whilst the construction of the house may be challenging, baking the gingerbread is actually very easy. Our version has the perfect balance of sweet and spiced, thanks to our special ingredient, ‘Christmas spice’, made with cinnamon, ginger and mixed spice.

It’s up to you whether you want to cut out tiles to build a house or stick to gingerbread men which will make a lovely extra decoration for your tree, if you’re not too tempted to eat them all right away of course!

Ingredients

Makes 30 cookies or a small gingerbread house

• 150g honey
• 350g rye flour
• 150g demerara sugar
• 90g butter
• 60g ground almond
• 4g cinnamon
• 10g Christmas spice (4g cinnamon, 3g ginger, 3g mixed spice)
• 6g cocoa powder
• 30g egg
• 3g bicarbonate of soda
• 20g orange juice

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175oc and line baking trays with baking paper
2. Combine the flour, ground almond, cocoa and Christmas spice in a bowl
3. In a pan, gently heat the honey, butter, demerara sugar and orange juice until dissolved
4. Add the bicarbonate of soda – careful it will rise!
5. Pour the liquid into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix well
6. Add the egg and stir in until a stiff dough has formed
7. Leave to cool slightly, then, on a surface dusted lightly with flour, roll out the dough to 5mm thick
8. Cut to tile size needed, or stamp out the gingerbread men shapes if using a cutter
9. Place on the lined trays and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden

Top Tip: Download a gingerbread house template online and print off to guide you with cutting the tiles needed to build a house and be sure to use plenty of icing to glue the sides together.

Are you a fan of festive sweet treats? Then don’t miss our festive afternoon tea, view the menu and book now.