Sunday 11 December 2016

Gingerbread - The Georgian Way And My Sunday Photo

Gingerbread?  This name comes from the Latin zingiber.  Ooh, I love the sound of that - zingiber!  It seems that gingerbread started off in Germany then went to Sweden, and was taken up by the English in Elizabeth I's time in the form of gingerbread men.  

This is a recipe from the online course on Royal Food that I did recently with the University of Reading.  Gingerbread was a staple of the Georgian Christmas table, though many of the foods and festivities had become muted since Medieval times.  It was originally seen as very festive (i.e. only for festivals) due to the expensive spices, but by this time spices were cheaper thus more available to the ordinary folk of England. 



Makes about 22 


ingredients:


340g. of treacle


113g. of brown sugar

9g. ground ginger

7g. ground cloves

7g. ground mace - I had to buy it and grind it myself

7g. ground allspice

7g. ground nutmeg

7g. whole caraway seeds

7g. whole coriander seeds

half an egg - check my notes for info on this

454g. butter, melted

500g. plain flour



Method:


Place all the ingredients except the flour into a large mixing bowl

Mix them well together

Add the flour in increments - the recipe says it will form a stiff paste but this didn't happen for me:=)

You can cut out shapes if the dough does become stiff enough, but otherwise do what I did - just drop it onto the lined baking trays with a big spoon

Bake at 160C for 15-20 minutes - I did mine in 2 lots

Cool on wire racks

Store in the fridge in a sealed container



Notes:



I cracked open one large egg, which weighed 57 grams.  I then whisked it with a fork to combine the yolk and white, and weighed out half so I ended up with about 28g. of egg

The original recipe says it "will knead into a pretty stiff paste".  I added twice the amount of flour that was suggested (half a pound), and the mixture was still incredibly soft, so no gingerbread men or women for me






ingredients






ground spices






all in!






the melted better is in - looks like a pond at this point  






and the flour is stirred in - see, still pretty runny but that's okay    







just spoon them onto the lined tray - yep, they're buttery







spicy and tender  



Best to let them cool down and firm up before eating.  They stayed soft though the recipe says they are good for dunking.  Perhaps leaving the dough in the fridge overnight as the recipe suggests would lead to a stiffer biscuit.  Mr P. was happy with these as is.



This recipe comes from New System of Cookery 1816 by Maria Rundell.






the recipe from the course notes  




my gingerbread man doodle





Photalife


34 comments:

  1. How cool is it that this is a historical recipe? I can just see Jane Austin nibbling on these while pondering the next line to write. Love the dotty tablecloth too, very festive.
    You have a new blog header, I love it! Now you just need a favicon (PM me if you like).

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    1. thank you stella. yep a favicon is just what i need! what is it? :)

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  2. Looks like a great recipe. May have to half it though. Can't have that amount of sugar around the kids at Christmas! #MySUndayPhoto

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  3. That looks really good. As you know I live in the land of gingerbread, and as it's our last Christmas here I am doing my best to overindulge!! Love the sound of the online course, and your new header! :)

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    1. thank you very much! i hope you have a wonderful xmas. and thanks re my header. i love it too:)

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  4. I love proper gingerbread! Yum!

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    1. well i guess being a 200 year old recipe, it must be very proper:) it is good.

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  5. See now I really fancy some ginger bread and a cup of tea

    Thank you for linking up

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    1. hi darren
      this is a very interesting recipe; worth a try if you like things a bit savoury.

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  6. These look so delicious! We're not able to get take here in Spain but will definitely be giving a modified version if this a go! #mysundayphoto

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    1. perhaps you could use molasses with some honey in it to lighten it up? have fun.

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  7. Replies
    1. it is surprisingly savoury, fiona. due to the spices it has quite a non sweet taste in some ways.

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  8. Oooh a treat this week Sherry! They do look fab. I love catching TV programmes where they look at the old recipes. Our children at school in Year 5 (9/10year olds) are just coming to the end of their Tudor topic and they've been making foods - just finished pottage!

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    1. pottage? mm sounds interesting. yes i love historical recipes too. such fun to work them out. merry xmas shaz.

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    2. Merry Christmas to you too Sherry xx

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  9. We're attempting to make a gingerbread house today! Love the spicy variety:) #MySundayPhoto

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  10. The online course sounds so interesting. And the use of spices for special occasions makes so much sense. I wonder if they flour they used then would have been coarser due to stone milling?

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    1. I think you could be right there Tandy. It probably was a much heavier flour.

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  11. I just made something with gingerbread today too! I didn't know the Latin name though-it sounds like it would be fun to say! :D

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    1. i love that word. not sure how to pronounce it tho. :)

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  12. Replies
    1. yes it is Jem. very spicy and quite savoury. crunchy too with the seeds in a good way. merry xmas.

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  13. These cookies look great and I'm sure they taste perfectly !
    Greetings

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  14. Love this look of these gingerbread biscuits - might have to give them a try! :-)

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