Gingerbread & S'mores
‘Tell the bearer not to forget to bring me a fairing, which is some gingerbread, sweetmeat, hunting-nuts and a pocket book.’ Percy Bysshe Shelley, 18th July 1803.
When the Romantic poet Shelly sent this request to his Aunt Kate in Horsham, Sussex (where, incidentally, I lived from my mid teens until my early 30s) the market town was renowned for its gingerbread. By the 1860s there were ten confectionery shops selling this spicy treat in several forms, including ‘toy’ gingerbread, a biscuit stamped out in a variety of shapes.
In Saleable Shop Goods (1898) Frederick Vine describes how gingerbread could be pressed into moulds to create different patterns. Often these carved wooden moulds were double sided. One side would include a pattern for a larger, one penny gingerbread while the reverse would host a pattern for a smaller, half penny gingerbread. Horsham Museum has a number of gingerbread moulds on display (on permanent loan from Brighton Museum) including a curious one of a chicken wearing trousers. Sadly, the presence of dedicated gingerbread sellers on Horsham’s shopping streets died in 1917 with the town’s last gingerbread baker, George Lovekin. However, thanks to the efforts of Lesley Ward you can still buy Horsham gingerbread (in slabs rather than moulded) based on a recipe from Penshurst Place, once owned by John Shelley-Sidney, the uncle of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).
For more historical information on gingerbread see my book First Catch Your Gingerbread (Prospect Books, 2020) which contains many historical recipes including the hunting-nuts and fairings craved by Shelley.
Sam’s Simple Gingerbread
While I love all of the recipes in my book First Catch Your Gingerbread sometimes you just want a straightforward formula for gingerbread particularly when baking with children. This dough is ideal for making gingerbread men or animals. You can make a slightly lighter mixture by replacing the treacle with honey and the dark brown sugar with light brown sugar.
Ingredients
For a dozen or so gingerbread men (depending on the size of your cutter) or 18 8cm gingerbread biscuits
100g/4oz unsalted butter
2 tbsp treacle
350g/12oz plain flour
1½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
Pinch ground cloves
1 tsp baking powder
100g/4oz dark brown sugar
75g/3oz caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
A splash of milk (if required)
A few currants for decoration (optional)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180℃.
Gently heat the butter and treacle until just melted but not too warm. If it does start bubbling leave it for a little while to cool before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.
Sieve the flour, spices and baking powder into a bowl. Stir in the sugars then add the melted butter and treacle followed by the beaten egg. Bring the dough together adding a splash of milk if the mixture seems too dry. You can use the dough right away although I like to leave mine to rest for an hour wrapped in cling film or foil.
When you are ready to make your gingerbread shapes, lightly dust a work surface with flour. Divide the dough in two keeping one half covered. Roll the dough to a thickness of 5mm/¼in then stamp out your chosen shapes using cookie cutters. Repeat this process using the remaining dough. You can gather up the trimmings and roll the dough out again to cut out more shapes.
Place the gingerbread shapes on a greased or lined baking sheet. You can decorate your gingerbread men with currants for eyes and buttons if you like by pressing them gently into the dough figures at this point. Bake for 10-15 minutes until slightly risen and golden. Leave them on the tray for a couple of minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Once the figures are completely cold you can of course decorate them with icing if you wish.
Gingerbread S’mores
If you use a plain round or square cookie cutter you can turn these into gingerbread s’mores.
Put 200g dark chocolate, 50g unsalted butter and 20ml (4tsp) hot water in a heat proof bowl. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, ensuring it doesn’t touch the water, to melt the chocolate and butter, stirring frequently until glossy. Remove from the heat and allow to cool and thicken slightly (it needs to be spreadable rather than runny).
Spread the underside of the cooked and cooled gingerbread with the chocolate paste leaving a 5mm boarder around the edge. Place half of the chocolate coated gingerbread on a baking sheet (the bottoms). Top with a marshmallow. Bake in a moderate oven (c. 180℃) for 3-5 minutes or until the marshmallow is gooey (alternatively place under a hot grill for a couple of minutes ensuring they are not too close to the element to prevent the marshmallow from burning). Remove from the oven and top with another gingerbread cookie, chocolate side down to create a gingerbread, chocolate-marshmallow sandwich. Ideally eat warm although they are still delicious cold.
