One Pot Gingerbread Food

MARY BERRY'S GRANNY'S GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• 1. You will need a 23 x 30cm (9 x 12in) traybake tin lined with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas 4. 2. Measure the flour, bicarbonate, ginger and mixed spice into a large bowl. 3. Measure the butter, treacle, syrup and sugar into a small saucepan and heat gently until the butter has just melted. Set aside to cool a little. 4. Pour the mixture from the saucepan into the bowl of dry ingredients. Add the beaten egg and beat with a wooden spoon until combined. Gradually add the milk, beating to make a smooth batter. 5. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 35 minutes or until dark golden and springy to the touch. Cut into 24 pieces to serve. Wrapped tightly, this keeps for up to a week. Prepare ahead: Can be made a day ahead. Freezes well. Get your copy of Mary Berry's essential new guide to comfort cooking, with over 120 delicious, foolproof recipes:

FAVORITE OLD FASHIONED GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9-inch square pan.
• In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses.
• In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour into the prepared pan.
• Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving.

GINGERBREAD I

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees C). Grease and lightly flour one 8 inch square baking pan.
• Cream shortening and sugar until light. Add the egg and molasses and beat thoroughly.
• Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, ground ginger, and ground cinnamon.
• Bring water to a boil and add alternately with flour mixture to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Pour batter into prepared pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 to 40 minutes. Serve warm and enjoy.

OLD-FASHIONED GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 by 8-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.
• Place the rum and raisins in a small pan, cover and heat until the rum boils. Turn off the heat and set aside. Place the butter and molasses in another small pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Pour the mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cool for 5 minutes, then mix in the sour cream and orange zest.
• Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt together in a small bowl. Mix with your hands until combined. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the molasses mixture and mix only until smooth. Drain the raisins and add them and crystallized ginger to the mixture with a spatula. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely.
• When the cake has cooled, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and orange juice and pour it onto the gingerbread, allowing it to drip down the sides. Allow the glaze to set. Cut the gingerbread into 9 squares.

ORANGE GINGER BREAD

Steps:

• Place ingredients into the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select the Dough cycle, and press Start.
• When the machine signals the end of the cycle, remove the dough. Roll into a loaf, and place in a 9x5 inch bread pan. Set aside to rise until doubled, or until your finger leaves a dent when the dough is pressed lightly.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake the bread for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a rich golden brown.

ULTIMATE EASY GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Heat the butter, syrup and sugar together in a small pan until melted, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool slightly.
• Mix together the bicarb, ginger, cinnamon and flour in a large bowl. Pour in the buttery syrup mixture and stir to combine, then use your hands to bring together to form a dough. The dough will be soft at this point, but it'll firm up in the fridge.
• Put the dough on a sheet of baking parchment, shape into a rectangle, and lay another sheet of parchment on top of it. Roll the dough out to a thickness of ½cm. Transfer to a baking sheet to keep it flat, leaving the parchment in place, then chill in the fridge for 1 hr.
• Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and line a large baking sheet with more baking parchment. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut out shapes using a cookie cutter. We used 9cm stars, but you can choose any shape. We also made some with smaller stars cut out of the centre to thread ribbon through and hang from a Christmas tree.
• Place the shapes, spread apart, on the lined baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 mins. (Depending on the size of the cutters you use, they might need a few minutes more or less cooking in the oven). Leave to cool completely on the baking sheet.
• Meanwhile, mix the icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp water - you want to create a consistency that's thick and pipeable, and not too thin or it will run. Decorate the cooled biscuits with the icing using a piping bag with a thin nozzle. Find out how to make a piping bag.

SPARKLY GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or hand-held electric beaters, beat brown sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg, molasses and fresh ginger, and mix until well combined.
• Reduce speed to low and gradually add dry ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.
• Divide dough in half and scrape onto two pieces of plastic wrap, wrapping each piece separately into a flat disk. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days.
• When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Use parchment paper or nonstick liners to line 3 baking sheets, or lightly grease them with nonstick cooking spray. (You may need to bake the cookies in batches.)
• On a clean, lightly floured work surface, roll one disk of dough 1/8-inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out all the dough. With a small metal spatula, place the gingerbread cut-outs onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between cookies. Repeat with remaining dough. You can reroll the scraps once. Collect them from both pieces of dough, smush them together into a disk and chill before rerolling again.
• Bake small cookies for 8 to 12 minutes, and larger ones for 10 to 15 minutes, or until cookies are firm to the touch and their edges are slightly darker in color. Rotate cookie sheets halfway through for even baking.
• Let cookies cool on baking sheets until firm enough to lift, about 5 minutes. Using a metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
• To decorate, thin the royal icing with water until it's as thick as heavy cream (thinner than you'd use for piping). Divide it into small bowls (or a muffin tin), and use food coloring to tint it different colors. Use a brush to paint the cookies with icing, and, if you like, use toothpicks to apply more icing to make patterns. Sprinkle with colored sugar or other decorations, if you like, while the icing is still wet. Put the decorated cookies on baking sheets to set, then move them to tins or other airtight containers with parchment between the layers.