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This recipe for Welsh Gingerbread is an old one. I picked it up duringmy culinary tour of Wales, and as you can see from the picture, it comes from an old book. You know, the kind your grandmother has stashed on the shelf.There’s no reference to what year this book was made, but there is a little note at the top of the recipe that says it was the original gingerbread sold at old Welsh Fairs. In the spirit of the holiday season, I couldn’t wait to try it out!
Translating Measurements
Now, I confess, it took me a couple of tries. Here in the United States, we don’t measure things by the “gill,” and I had to do a bit of googling to discover ourequivalent of demerara sugar (it’s brown sugar) and black treacle (it’s molasses). We also don’t have an Oven Control, Mark 3. So this was a fun experiment. But the results were worth it.
Testing An Old Gingerbread Recipe
Thankfully, most of the measurements were by weight/ounces, so I only had one that was a bit tricky — a gill. According to Wikipedia, “Agill or teacup is a unit of measurement for volume equal to a quarter of a pint. It is no longer in common use, except in regard to the volume of alcoholic spirits measures.” I also found a few references that said it was equivalent to a half cup, or five fluid ounces. So, I started with that measurement, but it ended up being a bit too moist. Then I cut it down to a third, and it was still a bit moist. Finally, I cut both the milk ANDthe molasses down to 1/3 cup and that ended up being about right.
Now, something you’ll notice about the original Welsh gingerbread recipe pictured — there are no eggs. And no ginger, either! The recipe did mention candied peel, and I assumed that was ginger. I added a bit of ground ginger to the recipe to give it more a ginger flavor andmadea glaze sprinkled some candied ginger on top to make it more like a festive dessert. Enjoy!
Welsh Gingerbread With Orange Glaze & Candied Ginger
Add the flour, baking soda, cream of tarter, and ground ginger to a large bowl and whisk together.
Next, add the butter and press into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or fork until the butter is blended into the flour and it looks a little lumpy.
Add the brown sugar and to the flour mixture and stir together. Once it is well blended, add 1/4 cup of candied ginger and mix.
Heat the milk on the stove or in the microwave until it's warm, but not boiling. Pour the molasses into the milk and stir until the molasses is dissolved. Then pour the molasses milk into the flour and gently stir together until it's the consistency of a soft cookie dough.
Transfer dough into greased bread pan and bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (You may need a little longer depending on your oven)
While the gingerbread is baking, you can prepare the glaze.
Whisk the confectioners sugar with the orange juice until the sugar is completely dissolved and it is the consistency of a syrup.
Once the bread is done baking, let it cool for 1 hour. Drizzle with glaze and the rest of the candied ginger.
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About Rachelle Lucas
Rachelle is the founder of TheTravelBite.com and was named one of USA Today's 10Best Food and Travel Bloggers. She believes the best way to learn about a destination is through its flavors and collects recipes from her trips to recreate them here on The Travel Bite. In her spare time she enjoys running and yoga to balance out her food obsession.
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Comments
Gaylesays
Candied peel is orange peel that has been cooked with sugar in a saucepan, sort of like peanut brittle. You also buy it ready made in grocery stores. It’s really good in breads and muffins
Reply
Annsays
In our neck of the woods, mixed peel is a mixture of orange, lemon and sometimes grapefruit peel, candied and chopped finely. It remains moist, not brittle. Added to Christmas cakes is usual here amongst other baked good where dried fruit may be used. Hot cross buns aren’t the same without it!
Golden syrup can substitute treacle. Self-raising flour can be substituted with 2.5 cups plain flour and 5 teaspoons baking powder. Great with coffee. This makes 48 biscuits or 10 gingerbread men.
After the gingerbread is cut out, Lomas recommends putting it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to three days. Chilling the dough before it goes into a hot oven gives the butter a chance to firm up and reduces how much it spreads when baking.
A 1:4 ratio of butter to flour makes the gingerbread strong. Corn syrup keeps freshly baked gingerbread pliable and soft, so it's easy to cut while warm. Rolling the dough directly on parchment makes it easy to transfer to the pan.
Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt into a large bowl. Gradually add dry ingredients to the molasses mixture, mixing after each addition until incorporated. Mix in water until smooth.
Bread recipes usually ask for plain flour, and that's because the raising agent comes from the yeast working with the water, flour and salt. If you use self-raising flour, your bread won't rise evenly and you could end up with a stodgy crumb.
gingerbread, in architecture and design, elaborately detailed embellishment, either lavish or superfluous. Although the term is occasionally applied to highly detailed and decorative styles, it is more often applied specifically to the work of American designers of the late 1860s and '70s.
Some other common spices used in gingerbread recipes are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and allspice. Cinnamon is available in ground form and in a stick. For baking, you should use ground cinnamon. Nutmeg adds a nutty, sweet spiciness to gingerbread.
As was expected because of the extra brown sugar, this cookie looked dark in color and took on the texture of molasses. I thought I was going to chip my tooth when I bit into this finished, extra-sugary cookie. It was hard and dense throughout.
Gingerbread Cookies are done when they are set and begin to brown slightly at the edges. They will harden further as they cool, so avoid overbaking so you don't end up with hard, crunchy gingerbread!
Should gingerbread cookies be hard or soft? Soft gingerbread biscuits are ideal. They ought to be flexible. However, they should still be somewhat elastic, and if you hold them too firmly because you're so excited to eat them, you might even be able to leave your fingerprints on the cookie!
A classic recipe also calls for brown sugar and molasses. While not commonly used in modern-day America, molasses is key for gingerbread, according to Sugar Spun Run, which gives the treat its authentic gingerbread taste.
Most likely too much bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) was added. Bicarbonate of soda is an extremely active raising agent and if you add too much then the gingerbread will rise up a lot during baking, then sink back fairly dramatically.
The simple answer is no; dogs should not be given gingerbread. In addition to the large amounts of sugar and fat, gingerbread often includes nutmeg, which can be toxic to dogs. For more information, we spoke to veterinarian Dr. Lindsay Butzer opens in a new tab for how to keep your dogs safe this holiday season.
If you have a cookie recipe that spreads a lot using all-purpose flour, then it's probably not the best idea to substitute self-rising flour. But any cookie with normal spread – one using at least 1/2 teaspoon baking powder per cup of flour – should be just fine.
As a general rule, don't use self raising flour if there is another leavening agent called for in the recipe such as yeast or baking soda. The leavening in the self raising flour is usually enough. More, don't substitute self raising flour in your recipe without paying close attention to the rest of the recipe.
The flour is standard, I use self raising instead of plain flour and baking powder, and some ground almonds. If you don't want to use nuts, you can use more flour instead of the ground almonds. Also, mix through the eggs… I use 5 medium, but four large eggs will also work super well.
To make self-raising flour, mix 100g plain flour with 1 tsp baking powder. When making cakes or bread, it is essential you use plain or self-raising flour as stated in the recipe for successful results.
Introduction: My name is Trent Wehner, I am a talented, brainy, zealous, light, funny, gleaming, attractive person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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Gayle says
