Bake off champion Frances Quinn's Quinntessential Ginger Bread Recipe
These superbly illustrated bakes are by Frances Quinn, a hugely creative artist. Frances designed these festive favourites as part of our 12 days of Lumos Christmas challenge, using the Lumos to draw her initial designs and to write this tasty gingerbread party ring recipe.
QUINNTESSENTIAL GINGERBREAD
This dough is very easy to make. It uses the melting method, so you
simply heat the butter and sugar gently before stirring in the egg, flour and
spices. If you can’t get hold of golden syrup you can replace with honey.
It’s best made a day ahead and left to chill in the fridge overnight. Failing
that, make it at least a few hours in advance, chilling makes it much easier
to roll out.
INGREDIENTS
50g light muscovado sugar
50g dark muscovado sugar
50g golden syrup or honey
150g salted butter
1 egg
300g plain flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp mixed spice
METHOD
Place both the sugars, the golden syrup (or honey) and the butter in a
heavy- based saucepan. Set it over a medium heat, stirring occasionally,
until the butter has melted and the sugars have dissolved.
Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes,
before beating in the egg. Weigh the flour into a bowl and stir in the
spices, then sift these dry ingredients into the mixture in two batches,
mixing in each batch gently, until you have a soft dough.
Halve the mixture and transfer to two food bags, or wrap in cling film. Refrigerate for several hours, preferably overnight, to firm up. This makes the dough easier to roll
out – but remove the dough from the fridge 15-30 minutes before rolling it,
so it can soften slightly. If you don’t use both portions of dough at once
then use the remainder within a week, or freeze it.
Roll out the dough between sheets of non-stick parchment to a 2-3mm
thickness. If the dough seems very sticky, dust the dough and parchment
lightly with a little flour. Cut out your desired shapes and bake in an oven
preheated to 180C/160Fan/Gas 4 for 5-15 minutes, depending on the size
and width of the biscuits, until golden brown around the edges. Leave to
cool on a rack.
Enjoy!