Some of the Living Better With Less group have decided to make gingerbread baking our Christmas activity this year and we met in my kitchen last Sunday for a baking session.
My friend in America who has some significant notches on the proverbial baking belt kindly shared her recipe with me. She has been making it since the 6th grade do you mind. And she allowing me to share the good stuff with you too.
I pondered making a gingerbread house a la my own house profile and thought it not interesting enough then pondered the profile of my birdhouse
But to be honest I couldn't be bothered doing the math for the components.
In the end I took the easy option and used Cindy's house cut outs.
The recipe makes ample mixture and after cutting out my house pieces I found myself rolling and rolling and cutting and pressing....
Dozens of hanging ornaments.
You can leave them plain or ice them and thread with some ribbon.
I couldn't find my icing set so made do with a snipped freezer bag.
They went like hot cakes at the market!
Gingerbread Recipe
1 cup of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of molasses
7 cups of flour
2 teas baking soda
2 teas ground cinnamon
2 teas ground ginger
1 teas salt
1/2 teas ground cloves
2/3 cup water
Cream butter and sugar with a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Add molasses and beat well. With mixer on low add 3 cups of flour and the rest of the ingredients except the water.
Still on low add the remaining 4 cups of flour and mix until crumbly and homogeneous. Slowly add the water until the mixture comes together and starts to form a ball.
Roll dough out on parchment paper. Cut pieces out and remove the scraps. Transfer the paper with pieces to a cool baking sheet. Bake in a moderate oven for about 10 mins.
What a lovely day you had! I really must do some holiday baking.
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a nice recipe - i wasnt too happy with the recipe I used last year.
ReplyDeleteHi Tanya,
ReplyDeleteI really can smell your gingger bread from here, hm.... Delicious... :)
This is really more of a "building" dough than an "eating" dough, but it's tried and true for me. Two things I can't emphasize enough are:
ReplyDelete1) Margarine will work better than butter (it's the one time of year I buy that nasty stuff).
2) Roll the dough out on the parchment paper, tear the dough scraps away, and then put the paper directly on the baking sheet. Since the cookies/pieces aren't being lifted or moved around, their shape remains true.
3) So sue me, I want to add another--have fun!!!!!!!
And so sayeth our master baker! Thanks for the recipe Kat. I'm betting the ornaments can be pulled out every year for the next decade with this one!
DeleteI am getting all geared up to make my ginger Xmas biscuts this week but they will be for eating not gingerbread house making.
ReplyDeleteHi Fiona, do you have an eating recipe you would like to share? Or are you going to do a post on your blog? If so feel free to post the link in the comments here. Thanks for stopping by joining the conversation.
DeleteHi Tanya I have posted my recipe on my blog and it is really easy. you can check it out here http://lifeatarbordalefarm.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/gingerbread-biscuits.html
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