Mini Chef’s Christmas Gingerbread
Inroduction
About this Recipe
By: Sheridan Rogers
Here’s a terrific recipe for gingerbread from my latest book Mini Chef – Cooking with Kids. Once you’ve made it, roll it out and cut into different shapes: Christmas trees, bells, angels, stars,cockatoos, kangaroos, maps of Australia. You can also use it as the foundation for a Gingerbread House – cut out walls, roofs, chimneys and doors, then stick together next day with cement icing (see below). It needs to be refrigerated and you need to flour the rolling pin and bench top when rolling it out as it can be sticky (if too sticky, wrap it up again and return to the fridge until chilled).
Ingredients
- softened unsalted butter 250g
- brown sugar 185g
- eggs 2, organic or free range
- honey 300ml (it’s easier to measure if you warm it slightly)
- plain flour 750g – 800g, sifted
- salt pinch
- ground ginger 3 teaspoons
- ground cinnamon 2 teaspoons
- allspice 1/2 teaspoon
- bi-carbonate soda 3 teaspoons, dissolved in 125ml (1/2 cup) boiling water
- egg whites 2, lightly beaten
- pure icing sugar 3 cups, sifted
- lemon juice a squeeze
Cream together the butter and sugar until light. Beat in the eggs one at a time then add the honey. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture alternately with dissolved bi-carbonate soda.If the dough feels too soft, work in a little more flour. Shape into a ball and wrap in greaseproof paper or plastic wrap. Refrigerate two hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 180degC. Divide the gingerbread into four so that you can work with one piece at a time, putting the remainder back (wrapped) into the refrigerator. Roll out onto a lightly floured board and stamp out various shapes with a cutter. If making gingerbread men, insert sultanas or currants for eyes and buttons. Lift carefully onto greased baking trays. Bake for about 15 minutes or until browned. Remove with a spatula to cool on a wire rack. Decorate as you wish – use the white frosting (below) as “cement” for smarties (eyes), jellybeans (mouth) and coconut (hair). Or spoon it into a piping bag with a small nozzle and pipe squiggles over the men. Makes about 20 men, or enough for a Gingerbread House. To make the icing: Sift the icing sugar. Whisk egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add the sifted icing sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice. Keep beating until thick. When you lift the beaters, the icing mixture should look like beautiful soft snow peaks. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and/or a damp cloth to ensure no air penetrates – or it will harden like cement. Tip: A drop of blue food colouring added towards the end will help to keep it sparkling white.