From the Vitsœ kitchen: December

In chef Will’s words, a recipe for his Gingerbread

Everyone loves gingerbread, they might say they don't, or that they’re “watching their carbs”, or they “couldn't possibly have another thing.” But they want gingerbread, really. The smell of baking gingerbread wafting through the house will warm everyone's heart, and ensure a queue at teatime.

This recipe is taken from my 1774 copy of Hannah Glasse’s ‘The Art of cookery’. Which, as she says herself “far exceeds anything yet published.” I have adorned it slightly and lightened it up a little. So, my version of Hannah’s recipe is as follows:

Ingredients:

• 70ml double cream
• 225g treacle
• 28g stem ginger, drained and chopped finely
• 225g unsalted butter
• 680g plain flour (sifted)
• 1 pinch of salt
• Zest of two oranges
• 28g ground ginger (up this amount for a fiery gingerbread)
• 225g caster sugar
• 175g icing sugar
• 1 egg white

Method:

1. Heat the cream and treacle together with the stem ginger in a small saucepan, warm through and loosen the treacle
2. Rub the butter into the flour with a pinch of salt until the flour is the consistency of damp sand – a stand mixer with a paddle beater is your friend
3. Add the zest, ground ginger and sugar to the flour mix and rub through
4. Pour the cream and treacle mix into the bowl and beat together to form a stiff dough
5. Cover with a tea towel or clingfilm and leave the dough to rest for half an hour or so
6. Roll the dough out to the thickness of a pound coin (about 3mm), and cut into rounds, or your favourite shaped cookie cutter. Hannah also says “roll them round like small nuts”, so I make the offcuts into small balls, and they are lovely as well
7. Place on a lined baking tray and bake at 170°c (370°f/gas 3) for about 12 minutes
8. Mix the icing sugar with one egg white until there’s no lumps and then pour into a piping bag
9. Once the gingerbread are cooled they can be decorated to your liking

This is definitely the kind of gingerbread one could build a house from...