Preparing For Christmas: Gingerbread Recipe

 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Christmas is getting close and, while we are busy working on holiday orders, we would also like to share some of our holiday spirit. Some little things that make us happy, infuse us with holiday vibes and make the house smell great.

This year at seventyfive we have been making a lot of gingerbread, gingerbread people, gingerbread cats and some other gingerbread things as well. We have been decorating these with friends and snacking on them constantly. In late November we asked a bunch of friends over, put all of our gingerbread creations on the table, and tried to bring them to life through the medium of icing, marshmallows and confectionery. For us, it was a fun way to bring friends together, to consume unhealthy amounts of gingerbread and to get ready for the cold weather. We also drank mulled wine, but that is optional.

While gingerbread is one way of collaborating at Christmas, another Christmas collaboration is our Bento Bag and Soup Dumpling pouches, made in alongside The Backward Vendor. Coated with beeswax, these waxed cotton bags and pouches are food safe. We’ve been using them to store our gingerbread, making it easier to take our creations over to friends.

In this blog post we’ll share the gingerbread recipe and some pictures to you. The recipe we used is easy to make and is one way to get a Christmas aroma all over the home. We borrowed the recipe from delish, but added extra ginger for an additional kick.

 
 
 

Ingredients to make about 35 small to medium gingerbread:

  • 180 g softened butter

  • 170 g brown sugar (we used dark muscovado sugar)

  • 190 g treacle 

  • 1 large egg

  • 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste

  • 420 g plain flour

  • 2 tbsp. ground ginger

  • 1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

  • 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

  • 1/2 tsp. salt

  • 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Royal Icing:

  • egg white of 1 egg

  • 200g icing sugar

  • 1 tsp lemon juice, start by adding a little to adjust the consistancy

Other things you will need:

  • rolling pin

  • cookie cutters

  • piping bag, or a bag that you can use as a piping bag by cutting a hole in the corner

  • confectionery for decorating

  • a healthy appetite and a strong will, because you don’t want to eat everything

  • (Optional) a stand mixer and the paddle attachment

 

Step 1:

In a bowl, mix softened butter, sugar and treacle together until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla bean paste and mix well.

Step 2:

In another bowl, mix flour, all the spices, baking soda, and salt until well combined. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients while mixing at low speed until everything is well mixed.

 

Step 3:

Divide the dough into two halves and wrap with cling film. Put these in the fridge to chill for 3 hours, or leave them in the fridge over night if you feel like it.

Step 4:

After the dough is thoroughly chilled, take it out from the fridge and place it on a surface dusted with flour and start rolling the dough out. We rolled our gingerbread dough about 4-5mm thick.

Step 5:

Now it’s time to cut them out with your cookie cutter! Pre-heat the oven to 180C and line your baking sheet with parchment paper. After cutting them out and putting them on the tray, we recommend putting the gingerbread in the freezer for about 5 minutes prior to baking, so they stay in shape!

 
 
 
 

Step 6:

Once everything is ready, bake the small gingerbread creations for 9 minutes, medium creations for 10 minutes. Baking time varies for different ovens so keep an eye on them to find the best baking time. As you near the timer, check your gingerbread in 30 second intervals to avoid burning.

Step 7:

After baking, let the gingerbread chill on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool. Once completely cooled, it’s time to decorate with icing!

 
 
 
 

For the royal icing:

Lightly mix the egg white and then add in icing sugar, mix until completely combined. Slowly add in lemon juice to adjust the consistency. You don’t want the icing to be too runny, but it still needs to be soft enough to pipe out a smooth line. Once you’re happy with the icing consistency, transfer the icing in a piping bag and you are ready to decorate!

If you wish to fill completely, first use a harder icing around the edges and then fill the middle with runnier icing, use a tooth pick to scrape.

 
 
 

Here is a bagful of our creations, I'm sure you'll agree that they are utterly adorable. You’ll be happy to know they were all eaten.

 
 
 
 

We also made some mince pies (using a Delia Smith recipe for the mince), and our cat was constantly jumping on the table trying to lick the scraps!

We hope you enjoy making your own gingerbread creations with family and friends over December and January. Have a great holiday, and stay safe and healthy!

 
 

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