I know you can make gingerbread at any time of the year, but for some reason I only make them at Christmas.

Christmas and Gingerbread Men just go together, like Easter + Bunnies. Ice Cream + Summer.

I love the way gingerbread makes your house smell like Christmastime.

I’ve used Martha Stewart’s gingerbread recipe for about twenty years now, and I have yet to taste one I like better. Also, it rolls out well and holds its shape when using cookie cutters, so that’s helpful.

This year, I had to adjust the recipe a bit to make it with British ingredients. Treacle instead of molasses. Some folks say the two are interchangeable, but after experimenting a bit, I’m not entirely sure. I ended up with a combination of dark treacle and golden syrup to get the taste that I usually get from molasses back home.

Also, while making these little fellas, I may have whined about eleventy-million times about the fact that Tiny Oven can only bake three at a time, which basically means it took me the better part of four days to bake a double batch of this recipe.

Gingerbread Men 

(makes about 24 4-inch little fellas)

Ingredients:

400 grams plain flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

85 grams unsalted butter at room temp.

120 grams dark brown sugar

1 large egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

85 grams black treacle

170 grams golden syrup

Royal Icing

250 grams icing sugar

10 grams powdered egg whites

50ml warm water

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix flour, ginger, nutmeg, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl beat butter and brown sugar until light. Beat in egg, black treacle and golden syrup. Slowly add flour mixture until just combined. Flatten dough into two circles, wrap each in parchment paper and chill for for an hour. Roll out each disk on a floured surface and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Re-roll scraps to make more gingerbread men.

Bake for 8-12 minutes, depending on desired softness at 180 degrees C or Gas Mark 4. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.

Icing: Whisk together water and egg white powder. Add cream of tartar and icing sugar. Transfer icing to a pastry bag with a small tip or a plastic tip with a small hole snipped in the corner. Decorate cookies as desired.

The post Gingerbread Men appeared first on Alison Chino.

I am happy to say that I think I might finally be making friends with Tiny Oven. I will never love him the same way as I did Dream Oven back in Arkansas, but we are working out our differences.

I’m hoping you won’t think me completely crazy when I tell you that I often reason with Tiny Oven like this,

Now, Tiny Oven, I have put some love into kneading this bread and I would really appreciate it if you would bake it all the way through and not burn it on the top this time.

Also, I’ve learned that you cannot turn your back on Tiny Oven. He does more damage in five minutes than any other oven I’ve ever owned could do in twenty. My phone timer is ringing constantly to remind me not to leave Tiny Oven to his own devices. Rotate! Change levels! Check! Check! Check! is the only way to a successful dinner with Tiny Oven.

I have shared my standard homemade bread recipe before, but I am reposting in honor of finally making it with some success here in Scotland. And I have added the weight measurements that are used in all recipes here, as well as the sorts of flours I have found to be working for me from the market.

I know you will also appreciate that I had to make this bread at noon in order to get proper pictures of it, because friends, dinnertime is already long past sunset here in Aberdeeen.

Easy Whole Wheat Homemade Bread

1 cup warm water (235 ml)

1 scant tablespoon yeast

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 3/4 cups plain white flour (150 grams)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat or wholemeal flour (150 grams)

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add honey and salt. Combine flours in a separate bowl and mix loosely with a fork. Then stir into the yeast mixture and mix with a fork and hands until the dough comes together. Knead for about 5 minutes. Cover dough in oil and set aside, covered, to rise until doubled, for 45-60 minutes. (less if you set it near your simmering soup pot). Form dough into one large loaf or if you have a very fast baking Tiny Oven, form into three very small loaves. Place on parchment lined half sheet pan (quarter sheet in Tiny Oven) and allow to sit about 20 minutes. Cook at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until browned on top. In Tiny Oven, cook for 12 minutes at 175 degrees C.

Enjoy!

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