Gingerbread (that will also stand up in houses!)

A few years ago Libby posted this amazing Gingerbread recipe and it has been my go to Christmas cookie recipe ever since.

Everyone loves this gingerbread, but it can be a little soft for construction work! Since we make our own Gingerbread houses, I’ve been playing around with the recipe to come up with a slightly harder gingerbread that can stand up to the building process a little better but still meets all of our allergy requirements and this is it.

If you are making this mix in a Thermal Cooker, you will need to be mindful of the weight capacity limit of the machine – I do only a half batch at a time in my Bellini. This recipe does make a large quantity of dough, and half is more than enough for a house and some cookies.

250g vegan butter
180g brown sugar
2 eggs worth of egg replacer (or 5tbsp aquafaba)
300g golden syrup
800g plain GF flour mix (or closer to 900g of you use wheat flour)
pinch salt
6 tsp ground ginger
4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp bicarb soda
120ml boiling water

In your stand mixer, cream dairy free spread and sugar until light and fluffy (Speed 5, 10 seconds, scrape down and repeat twice).
Add in the egg replacer. If you are using the aquafaba here, you need to add in this extra step: in the small bowl of your mixer place the aquafaba and beat it until frothy – you don’t need to go quite as far as sort peaks forming. Add this mix into the beaten sugar mix and beat to combine. (Speed 4, 8 seconds)

Add in the syrup then mix well (Speed 4, 12 seconds)

Dissolve the bi carb in the boiling water.

Mix together dry ingredients and then add to the wet mix mixture in parts, alternating with the bicarb water. Start with 800g of flour then add more 1 tbsp at a time if the mixture feels too soft. I used a full 900g last time. (Set machine on speed 4 for about 3 minutes to allow you to add mix through the measuring cup opening while the machine mixes). *Note that the mix will still be fairly soft when it is ready to go in the fridge – it is not a really stiff dough.
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours – overnight
Remove dough from fridge and allow to sit for 5 minutes, then roll dough out (use a little pure cornflour to dust the surface) and cut out to shape.

Lay on lined baking trays and place in a preheated 170C (or 160C fan forced) oven for about 15 minutes.

They will be browned and still slightly soft to touch when removing from oven
Remove from oven but leave on tray for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack.

20191210_223840 — For your reference – this is a big quantity of dough – it makes about 130 small gingerbread men!!

Then if you’re making a house you just need to get building!

For a fabulous egg free Royal icing (to use as your cement) check out this one. I made and used 2/3 of this recipe to construct and decorate our house. (For a thermal cooker: place icing sugar in bowl and set machine to speed 4 for about 2 minutes, add lemon juice and glycerine through the measuring cup opening in the top. Mix until thick and well combined … you probably won’t need all of the 2 minutes!)