gingerbread man

Baking recipes Gingerbread recipe

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Date Published:
06/12/2007

A simple gingerbread recipe for festive decorations that are good enough to eat.

Gingerbread tastes great and makes the house smell wonderful as it bakes. This recipe can be used for biscuits, pretty tree decorations or cheery gingerbread men

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Makes 15 - 20 biscuits

Ingredients

  • 350g plain flour
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 100g butter
  • 175g soft brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 4 tbsp Golden Syrup

Method: How to make gingerbread

1. Mix together the flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda.

2. Rub in the butter until it looks like breadcrumbs.

3. Add the sugar.

4. In a separate bowl mix together the egg and golden syrup then add to the dry ingredients.

5. Mix together until it forms a dough. Tip out onto a clean, floured work surface and knead for a minute or two until it is smooth.

6. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 5.

7. Roll out the dough to the depth of a pencil (approx 5mm) and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. If you want to hang them on tree remember to use a straw to punch a hole in the top.

8. Lay the biscuits on a greased baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

9. Re-cut the hole in the top if it has closed up and leave on the baking tray until cool. Ice, thread with ribbon and hang on the tree.

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Comments

  1. Woah this recipe makes an awful lot of cookies! I did 6 trays and still threw some dough away! You might want to alter the quantities you use if you don't want so many! & add more spice if you like them to taste quite gingery these were very mild, not too much taste to them?
    Posted by Rachel on 07/02/2010 14:25:44
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  2. I made loads of these for Christamas and - kept in a tin - they were still yummy 3 weeks on. They had gone softer, more cakey than biscuity, but were still very tasty.
    Posted by Charley Farley on 01/02/2010 11:40:30
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  3. I also cheated and whacked the lot into my food processor, and they turned out great, really lovely texture and a softy bit in the middle. We made quite small gingerbread teddys and hearts, and got 27 out of the mixture! My girls like to ice, so we made lemon icing, which was really delicious with the ginger (which I added a double quantity of, thanks everyone!). Easy, cheap and tasty...........perfect.
    Posted by lady nowis on 29/01/2010 20:37:19
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  4. What a great recipe! very yummy and so easy to cook. I chilled for 1/2 hour before rolling. Perfect!
    Posted by Sue on 11/01/2010 21:36:40
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  5. ive made the recipe 2 and on the second time i added more ginger the dough is very sticky
    Posted by ciarian on 07/01/2010 19:29:31
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  6. i've used this recipe a couple of times. I find the dough very sticky, but 15 mins in the fridge makes it easy to work with. Enjoy...
    Posted by ben on 24/12/2009 11:38:03
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  7. Hi, im planning on making this as Christmas presents this year. Should i make them now and store or will they be stale when people come to eat them?
    Posted by Angharrad on 17/12/2009 05:18:45
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  8. I made these last night. I would stress the point already made, I think it needs more ginger. I had problems too with how sticky it was, even after a lot more flour. I will try it again and see if it works better next time. Personally I would prefer it with a little less bicarb, since i like it to be quite dense. All in all, great recipe though. Love the cloves!
    Posted by Ruth on 08/12/2009 10:49:55
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  9. great recipe, i substituted the ground cloves for nutmeg and doubled the ginger.... mmmmm yummy!!
    Posted by nic on 18/11/2009 15:13:18
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  10. Fab recipe, really delicious, the cloves and cinnamon give it depth. Over cooked my first batch so too crunchy, but second lot absolutely perfect. Will use this recipe again and again.
    Posted by Mrs Mac on 25/10/2009 20:11:10
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  11. I'm making gingerbread as wedding favours and want to be as prepared in advance as possible. Once made, how long will the gingerbread last before going stale/off?
    Posted by Emma Warren on 17/08/2009 11:19:50
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  12. I'm going to make these for my coursework in food tech! I haven't made them yet, but judging by the comments and the pictures, I hope they will turn out great ;) I just hope these rubbish school ovens don't let me down :P x
    Posted by Jazzybee on 14/06/2009 15:20:53
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  13. Excellent Recipe. I just Wish we made a bigger Portion.
    Posted by Fazzer Oliver on 12/04/2009 14:29:56
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  14. so if you don't have a gas mark or degrees oven what would you cook it at.
    Posted by anonymous on 27/02/2009 22:49:17
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  15. I made these with my mum just today (way past Christmas, I know, but still, we didn't do the Christmas designs xD). The recipe is great! It turned out really well, and they taste super awesome. In fact, they were so good, the dog and my dad ate half of them within half an hour!! And we got 18 biscuits out of the mixture, so we were really happy. ^_^ I definitely will make some again. :P
    Posted by Bekah on 18/02/2009 14:15:57
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  16. I Loved it! have kept the recipe and will be using it again sometime soon...
    Posted by Laurenn on 27/01/2009 19:02:02
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  17. Daughter and I made these for Christmas and both agree, they are the best gingerbread biscuits ever! We added some finely chopped stem ginger, but are convinced that it is the ground cloves that makes them taste so special. This recipe will certainly be used again.
    Posted by Heather on 23/12/2008 23:55:16
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  18. Very good and simple recipe, tastes great.....only thing is that it could maybe use a bit more ginger than 1tsp thanx
    Posted by Emily89 on 19/12/2008 14:32:06
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  19. Have just tried this recipe and it seems great. I see from a comment below that someone found it too dry - I had the opposite and had to add more flour - I guess it depends on the scales! Left out the cloves as hate them but otherwise excellent! Would recommend...
    Posted by Alex on 13/12/2008 16:57:58
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  20. Ive already tried making gingerbread with another recipe and i want to see which one is the best for christmas, with this recipe i shall not be adding the cloves
    Posted by Stace on 13/12/2008 09:51:20
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  21. Superb!!! My only gripe is that the quantities used made the mixture too dry and it didn't bind. I had to add a little water to form a dough before kneading onto a heavily floured work surface. I didn't use cloves and swapped the brown sugar for light muscovado and it still turned out incredible. I will definitely make this again.
    Posted by Stacky on 02/12/2008 13:31:28
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  22. We just made this recipe! We are usually rubbish in the kitchen but this was really quick and easy to make, and we are usually rubbish in the kitchen!! I think everyone should make this, it is quick, easy and delicious. And it's really quick!
    Posted by Mike and Kajsa on 22/11/2008 16:36:05
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  23. it tastes great
    Posted by kath on 19/11/2008 11:58:14
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  24. Just tried this recipe out to see if they are suitable for xmas gingerbread gifts and they are lovely! I will definitly be using them :) Really easy and quick to make.
    Posted by benkab on 17/11/2008 00:02:14
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  25. I am Going to try these but i dont have any cloves......will this still work?
    Posted by ZDAEfron on 11/11/2008 09:49:19
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  26. What a brilliant recipe! I looked it up when I had friends coming over for bonfire night, and even though I couldn't get all the right ingredients (we didn't have any cinnamon, and I used root instead of ground ginger) the cloves make it taste absolutely fantastic, and it doesn't use too many unusual or difficult to obtain bits. So simple, and so tasty! Thank you so much for sharing. <3
    Posted by Pippin4242 on 05/11/2008 23:27:23
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  27. This is a lovely recipe. I cheated and blitzed up everything in the food processor and it still worked a treat. It makes a lovely mixture that rolls out nicely. The gingerbread men stay slightly soft in the middle and the kids love them.
    Posted by ebbp on 05/10/2008 16:11:09
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