Easy Gingerbread Recipes

Steps:

• Heat the butter, syrup and sugar together in a small pan until melted, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool slightly.
• Mix together the bicarb, ginger, cinnamon and flour in a large bowl. Pour in the buttery syrup mixture and stir to combine, then use your hands to bring together to form a dough. The dough will be soft at this point, but it'll firm up in the fridge.
• Put the dough on a sheet of baking parchment, shape into a rectangle, and lay another sheet of parchment on top of it. Roll the dough out to a thickness of ½cm. Transfer to a baking sheet to keep it flat, leaving the parchment in place, then chill in the fridge for 1 hr.
• Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and line a large baking sheet with more baking parchment. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut out shapes using a cookie cutter. We used 9cm stars, but you can choose any shape. We also made some with smaller stars cut out of the centre to thread ribbon through and hang from a Christmas tree.
• Place the shapes, spread apart, on the lined baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 mins. (Depending on the size of the cutters you use, they might need a few minutes more or less cooking in the oven). Leave to cool completely on the baking sheet.
• Meanwhile, mix the icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp water - you want to create a consistency that's thick and pipeable, and not too thin or it will run. Decorate the cooled biscuits with the icing using a piping bag with a thin nozzle. Find out how to make a piping bag.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.
• In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses.
• In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour into the prepared pan.
• Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving.

Steps:

• Combine egg, sugar, molasses, butter and water; mix well. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, ginger and salt; add molasses mixture. Beat until well mixed. Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350° until cake tests done, 20-25 minutes. Cut into squares; serve warm with whipped cream.

Steps:

• Cover a piece of heavy cardboard with aluminum foil or freezer paper, dull-side up, to make a base for the gingerbread house.
• Cut templates for the gingerbread house out of heavy cardboard or cardstock; label each piece.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 3 rimless baking sheets (or the back of rimmed baking sheets).
• Combine butter, brown sugar, molasses, and dark corn syrup in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat; stir until melted, about 3 minutes. Stir in lemon zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and mace until blended, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Sift flour into a large bowl. Stir into the butter mixture 2 cups at a time, mixing the last 2 cups by hand to create a warm, firm mass of dough. Place a large handful of dough on a greased baking sheet; roll out to 1/8-inch thickness. Keep remaining dough covered.
• Dust cardboard templates lightly with flour and place on top of dough; cut around templates with a sharp knife. Cut out doors or windows as desired. Cut shutters, door knobs, or other features from the scraps. Return remaining scraps to the covered pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven until firm and slightly browned at the edges, 5 to 7 minutes for small pieces and 12 to 15 minutes for large pieces. Remove from the oven and place templates over the baked pieces; trim excess with a sharp knife to produce clean edges.
• Cool pieces on the baking sheet until firm, 5 to 10 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, 15 to 30 minutes.
• Combine confectioners' sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar, and white vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat until icing is stiff and shiny, 7 to 10 minutes.
• Stick candies and decorations over gingerbread pieces using royal icing. Let icing dry until hardened, about 5 minutes. Assemble gingerbread house pieces using icing. Let stand until icing is dry, about 5 minutes.

Steps:

• Set oeven to 350 degrees F.
• Set oven rack to second-lowest position.
• Grease and flour a 9-inch baking dish (knock out any excess flour, can also bake in a 13 x 9-inch pan).
• In a bowl sift together flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
• In another bowl using an electric mixer beat oil and sugar until well combined (about 4-5 minutes).
• Beat in egg and molasses until well combined (about 2 minutes).
• Gradually add in flour mixture until combined.
• Add in HOT water, beating until smooth.
• Transfer batter to prepared baking dish.
• Bake for about 40 minutes, or until cake tests done.
• Cool on pan for 10 minutes, then invert to a rack to cool.
• Serve with whipped cream.

Steps:

• Melt the sugar, golden syrup and butter in a saucepan, then bubble for 1-2 mins. Leave to cool for about 10 mins.
• Tip the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a large bowl. Add the warm syrup mixture and the egg, stir everything together, then gently knead in the bowl until smooth and streak-free. The dough will firm up once cooled. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 mins.
• Remove the dough from the fridge, leave at room temperature until softened. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line two baking trays with baking parchment.
• Roll out the dough to the thickness of a £1 coin, then cut out gingerbread people with a cutter. Re-roll the excess dough and keep cutting until it's all used up.
• Lift the biscuits onto the trays and bake for 10-12 mins, swapping the trays over halfway through cooking. Leave to cool on the trays for 5 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Use the icing to decorate the biscuits as you wish, and stick on chocolate or sweets for buttons. Leave to dry for 1-2 hrs. Will keep for up to three days in an airtight container.

Steps:

• Beat margarine and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until mostly incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, another 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in egg yolk, then molasses.
• Whisk sifted flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg in a separate bowl until well combined. Gradually add flour mixture to the molasses mixture, beating until well blended and smooth.
• Divide dough in half and form each into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 to 3 hours, or overnight.
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Working with one disk at a time, and leaving remaining disk in the refrigerator, unwrap chilled dough and place on a lightly floured surface. Working from the center to the edges, roll dough with a floured rolling pin to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
• Cut dough into desired shapes with cookie cutters, dipping the cutters into flour as needed so they don't stick to the dough. Fit the cookie cutters as closely together as possible to cut as many cookies as you can. This will minimize the number of times you have to re-roll the dough.
• Transfer gingerbread cookies to ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Gather any dough scraps into a ball, flatten, re-wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate to use for later batches.
• Bake each sheet in the preheated oven until firm, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool while you finish rolling, cutting, and baking the remaining cookies.
• Frost or decorate cooled gingerbread cookies as desired.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square pan, and line with buttered parchment paper; set aside. Combine butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until creamy. Add molasses, egg, and salt; mix until smooth.
• Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl. Add half the flour mixture to butter mixture, and mix until combined. Add 1/4 cup buttermilk, and mix until combined. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and remaining buttermilk. Stir in ginger until thoroughly combined.
• Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until firm to the touch and golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before unmolding.