Christmas Gingerbread
This Christmas gingerbread recipe makes enough for a gingerbread house or your own creation.
Ingredients
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250g Unsalted Butter
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200g Dark Muscovado Sugar
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7 tbsp Golden Syrup
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600g Plain Flour
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2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
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4 tsp Ground Ginger
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2 Egg Whites
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500g Icing Sugar
Directions
Gingerbread house making is becoming a bit of a tradition with us. It all started a few years ago when I wanted to make a gingerbread house and we were so impressed with ourselves that we decided to make one every year since!
Our first creation was a traditional house. It had pink and purple elephant sprinkles as roof tiles and walls decorated with stars and coloured icing pens. We were pretty happy that it stuck together (until the next morning when the roof fell off!)
Last year we tried to copy a gingerbread carousel I had seen. When we went to make it we realised we had no kitchen scales and we had to guess the measurements. I think it turned out pretty well considering! We used straws as the metal poles that the horses are on because they already had the stripy pattern and were a bit sturdier than using gingerbread. We also turned the horses into snowmen because we didn’t have scales let alone a horse shape cutter lying around so we decided that snowmen would be the easiest thing to shape by hand.
Billy and I are both Doctor Who fans so we made a gingerbread TARDIS this year. We use the same recipe each time. It gives you plenty of gingerbread to work with and possibly some left depending on how big you make it.
For the TARDIS we cut four identical rectangles, a large base, 3 squares for the top with each getting smaller, and a light for the top. We decorated this one with the left over icing to make it look snowy, and a blue icing pen.
There’s loads of templates for gingerbread houses online. Just find one you want and print it off. Alternatively, draw your own design on paper and cut it out
Heat the oven to 180ºc. Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger in a separate bowl. Stir in the butter mixture to make a stiff dough.
Roll out on a floured surface (if it’s still warm it will be very sticky so you may need to wait for it to cool slightly). Cut into desired shapes. You can find printable gingerbread house templates on the internet but we make our own. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until turning dark gold around the edges (bake time depends on the size of the piece).
Make the icing by mixing the egg whites into the icing sugar until it becomes very thick. Use a piping bag to pipe along the edges of the pieces to stick them together. We used various kitchen things to hold the pieces up while the icing was setting. Once the icing has set, decorate with different colour icing and cake decorations.
Ingredients
| 250g Unsalted Butter | |
| 200g Dark Muscovado Sugar | |
| 7 tbsp Golden Syrup | |
| 600g Plain Flour | |
| 2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda | |
| 4 tsp Ground Ginger | |
| 2 Egg Whites | |
| 500g Icing Sugar |
