Ingredients
- 100 g (3-1/2 oz) Butter
- 100 g (3-1/2 oz/ 1/2 cup) muscovado sugar
- 100 ml (3-1/2 fl oz/scant 1/2 cup) maple syrup
- 1 tbsp. golden syrup (or corn syrup)
- 250 g (9 oz/2 cups) Plain (all-purpose) flour + a little extra
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg, whisked
For the Icing (Frosting)
- 1 egg white
- 150 g (5 oz/1-1/4 cups) icing (confectioner’s) sugar
Directions
- For the dough, the day before melt the butter with the sugar, maple syrup and golden syrup in a small saucepan on a low heat, until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the stove and leave to cool until lukewarm.
- Mix the flour, spices, bicarbonate of soda and salt together. Add the sugar mixture and the egg and thoroughly blend everything. Cover and leave to rest in the fridge overnight.
- The next day preheat the oven to 160ºC (320ºF/gas 2). Roll out the dough on a floured work surface to a thickness of 2–3 mm (? in) and press or cut out biscuits (cookies) into the shapes of houses and cars. Place on baking sheets lined with baking parchment and bake for 8–10 minutes. Take out of the oven and leave to fully cool.
- For the icing, beat the egg white until stiff. Whilst stirring, sprinkle the icing sugar into it, then stir until smooth. Fill into a piping bag with a small nozzle and decorate the gingerbread shapes with it. To keep fresh, store in a tin.
Tip: To make the biscuits stand up, simply stick two identical shapes together with jam or marmalade, making the base broader and more stable. You can also press out small rectangles from the dough, bake them and stick them to the backs of the biscuits with icing.
More from Let it Snow:
Recipes excerpted with permission from Let it Snow by Agnes Prus, published by Hardie Grant Books October 2019.
You Be Sweet
You know how those Southern dessert recipes go — a cup of sugar here, a stick of butter there, eight squares of baking chocolate, or a pint of the season’s juiciest fruit. That recipe for blueberry cream pie — it’s been passed around the church for so long nobody can quite remember who made it first. Or how about the one for red velvet cheesecake you’ve been trying to coax out of your sister-in-law for years? She serves it every Christmas Eve, but so far her lips are sealed.
These are the types of food traditions that inspire You Be Sweet — a celebration of Southern dessert recipes and the people who cherish them. In this compilation of stories and sweet treats, Patsy Caldwell and Amy Lyles Wilson peek in on those occasions special enough to demand something decadent, and memorable enough to be repeated time and again. You’ll find the strawberry jam bars that always make an appearance at the neighborhood picnic. The German chocolate cake roll that pulls in the big bucks at the charity bake sale? That’s here too. The blackberry jelly recipe that has graced Mason jars all over the South for decades? It’s here, and it’s just about the best hostess gift you can offer up. Be sweet? You won’t be able to help it!
