In the run up to Christmas, I am going to post every single day.
So to start it all off... Gingerbread...
Usually when one thinks of gingerbread, one thinks of a gingerbread man and family altogether happily in their little gingerbread house. Or if you are of my generation (but mainly if you are younger), Gingi from Shrek...
(property of
Anyway this is not gingerbread like the above, this is proper gingerbread, as in bread-like consistency gingerbread, the hard core stuff.
The main difficulties with making gingerbread is that it contains black treacle, which is a pain to get hold of and rarely have in your cupboards so you have to go and buy it specially. However as luck would have it, there was a tin of it already in my kitchen cupboard....weird...
Gingerbread is made by heating butter (150g) with muscovado sugar (110g), ginger from a jar, sliced, (2tsp), cinnamon (1tsp) and a hell of a lot of golden syrup (200g) and black treacle (200g) together over a low heat so that they melt.
You could also add a bit syrup from the ginger jar to make it more sticky and gingery.
*QUICK TIP: Pour a bit of oil over the spoon which you are going to use to measure out the treacle as then it doesn't stick, it just slides off!*
Put 1tsp of bicarb in 2tbsp of hot water until it has dissolved and is cool. Then mix with 2 eggs and 230ml of milk. Add this to the mixture which has just cooled.
Beat the liquid ingredients in to 300g of plain flour, sifted. Mix this thoroughly until there are no pockets of flour as I have found in the past that the flour tends to clump together, which isn't so nice when eating...
Pour in to a greased rectangular tin of about 30x20x15. And bake for 45 mins.
Then I find that if you pour a lemon glace icing over the top using water, lemon juice and icing sugar. Left to set, the lemon cuts through the musky ginger flavor making a nice contrast, and decreasing the heaviness.
Perfect to get you in to the festive spirit.
"hard core" ginger bread.... ;)
ReplyDelete(also your tip is GENIUS)