Edible Type: Recipe

I've been recommended two recipes to look at. I will show both, although one is for gingerbread men and the other for a house. However I don't think this matters overly because the house template we will have to design anyway. After reading the recipes it looks like it is going to take a while between each section as some things need to be left over night. This shouldn't be too much of a problem if we make it on Wednesdays and then do the decorations on Thursday in time for Fridays hand in.

Ingredients

Melted butter, to grease
125g butter, at room temperature
100g (1/2 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar – soft brown sugar is a good one
125ml (1/2 cup) golden syrup
1 egg, separated
375g (2 1/2 cups) plain flour
1 tbs ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Plain flour, to dust

For icing
150g (1 cup) pure icing sugar, sifted
8-10 drops red liquid food colouring
8-10 drops green liquid food colouring



Step 1

Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush 2 baking trays with melted butter to lightly grease.
Step 2

Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the golden syrup and egg yolk and beat until combined. Stir in the flour, ginger, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Press dough into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
Step 3

Meanwhile, place egg white in a clean, dry bowl. Use an electric beater to beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add icing sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Divide icing among 3 bowls. Cover 1 bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Add red colouring to 1 bowl and stir until combined. Add green colouring to remaining bowl and stir until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge.
Step 4

Place the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper and roll out until about 4mm thick. Use a 9cm gingerbread man cutter to cut out shapes. Place on trays about 3cm apart. Repeat with any excess dough.
Step 5

Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven. Transfer to a rack to cool.
Step 6

Place prepared icings in small plastic bags. Cut a small hole in a corner of each bag. Pipe icing over gingerbread men to decorate.

Second Recipe:

675g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground all spice
175g unsalted butter
225g soft light brown sugar
1 large, free range egg
6 tbsp golden syrup

For the royal icing
1 large, free range egg white
250g icing sugar, sifted
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

To decorate
Sweets, sprinkles and anything else you fancy

Method

First, get cracking on your gingerbread. Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a large bowl, then rub the butter into the dry ingredients until you have a texture resembling fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and mix well.


Warm a bowl (stick in the microwave or run it under the hot tap for a bit) and mix the syrup and the egg together in the warm bowl - much easier to do it this way, believe me. Bung the wet mixture onto the dry and mix it all up to form a soft, smooth dough. I do this in my freestanding mixer with a dough hook, but you can do it by hand just as well.


Wrap the dough in cling film and chill it for at least 1 hour (2 would be better – overnight better still).


You could crack on with the royal icing at this juncture. Get a very large mixing bowl (freestanding mixer with paddle attachment even better) tip in the icing sugar, egg white and lemon juice and beat for at least five minutes. You may need to add a little cold water, if the mix is too dry and crumbly, but add the water very slowly. Conversely if the mixture is too loose, add more icing sugar. After about 5 minutes of beating you should have a thick, very white meringue type mixture that holds its peak. Store in an airtight container in the fridge until needed.


Cut out templates for your house. I do two sides walls which are 16cm by 13cm, two gable end walls which are 16cm by 13cm rising to a point in the centre of 23cm, and finally two roof pieces which are 20.5cm by 15.5cm.


Roll the chilled dough out on a floured surface to a thickness of about 5mm and cut round the templates. Lay the pieces onto baking sheets, lined with silicone paper and the put back into the fridge for another hour. I actually put mine in the freezer and bake them from frozen, but really chilled is fine. This stops the pieces from spreading during cooking. Cut out any cookie shapes with the spare dough at this stage too (or freeze the rest of the dough for another day).


Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and bake the gingerbread for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. As soon as they are out of the oven, get those templates on top of the hot pieces pronto and cut round the outline to give yourself really sharp edges. You need to do this before the gingerbread cools down and crisps up. Get moving! When they have firmed up, cool completely on wire racks.


It is at this stage in the proceedings that I veer away from the norm as far as decorating gingerbread houses go – I like to pipe my decorations on the house before it is assembled. If you are just going for the stick-masses-of-sweets-on approach, then do this after you have built the house.


Put some of the royal icing into a piping bag and pipe windows, roof tiles, doors or whatever your heart desires all over the outside of the house. Then (this is important, listen up) leave them to dry overnight.


The next day, you can handle your flat pack house without smudging all your piping. Pipe a good thick line of royal icing down the edges of the back of the house and stick on the two sides. You may need an extra pair of hands here, or do what I do and have a complicated mechanism of propping the walls against kitchen utensils, jars, cans etc. Then add the front wall and finally the roof panels. Royal icing is your cement and may be used liberally. It is snow, after all.