Gingerbread house gumdrops snowdrifts icicles
My mother started a tradition of baking and decorating gingerbread houses at Christmas-time when I was a little girl. It’s one of my favorite memories, so every year after our children were born I’ve made a gingerbread house for them. Our daughter has an artistic streak, and in the last few years she pushes me out of the kitchen to decorate them herself.
Three Little Girls at Christmas … mom’s gingerbread houses
We haven’t got round to making a gingerbread house this year, but we have definitely been baking … and eating … gingerbread! We didn’t have any corn syrup or maple syrup on hand, so I used a tin of Black Treacle syrup found in the cupboard.
Gingerbread cookies with black treacle — excellent!
What a wonderful accident. The gingerbread with black treacle syrup — or any dark maple syrup makes the ginger bread cookies even better! It’s a richer taste, bringing out the imagined taste of ginger better than any other syrup I’ve tried. We’re on our third batch of cookies already, and haven’t even shared it with friends and neighbours! Here’s the recipe and hope you enjoy it as much as we do! After sampling gingerbread for decades, I am not afraid to boast that this is the best gingerbread recipe in the world.
Didn’t have molasses so used black treacle instead. Excellent!
Use dark molasses if you don’t have black treacle….
The Best Gingerbread Recipe in the World!
1 C butter
¾ C sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 C black treacle, treacle or unsulphered molasses
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
5 C flour
4 Tablespoons water
– Mix everything except the flour and water together until well blended
– Lower your mixer speed; add flour and water and mix until your dough is firm
– Line cookie sheet with wax paper or silicon sheets (love silicon sheets!)
– Roll directly onto cookie sheets/ silicon liner – put a towel under cookie sheet so it doesn’t slip while you’re flattening out.
– Cut your shapes or simply leave as a huge piece to break off later
– Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes
Alexia started decorating her own beautiful houses when she was 13 …
One of the many we decorated … with a marzipan slide and penguins
To Use for Gingerbread Houses: If you’re baking this for a gingerbread house, make 4 x this recipe.
*** NEVER add baking soda to the recipe; it will keep the dough too soft and your house will collapse. My mistake a few years ago, when we had to start all over again…
[…] you like gingerbread as much as we do, click here for my favorite Gingerbread recipe. I’ve been making Gingerbread Houses and cookies for years; […]
when the recipe says 2 C butter is does the C stand for cup.also what sugar is best.
castor or muscarvado or demmeria.
Hi Lorraine, yes that C is for cups. We’ve tried all kinds of sugar and they’re all good. The treacle has a strong flavor so you can also just white sugar if you’re using that. Or the other two you mentioned work well too for added flavor. Enjoy!