Scottish Gingerbread 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.

SCOTS GINGERBREAD (OLD SCOTTISH RECIPE)

Steps:

• 1. Original version: Beat 8 oz. butter to a cream. Mix with 12 oz. flour, 4 oz. oatmeal, 1/2 gill cream. Stir in 12 oz. treacle, 1 oz. green ginger, 4 oz. lemon peel cut into fine shreds. Work the whole into a light dough. Bake in a greased tin for 45 minutes.
• 2. Modern version: Cream the butter. Beat in flour, oats, and cream. Add in sorghum, ginger, and lemon peel. (This looks like a lot of peel. I wouldn't pack it down in the cup.) Combine well.
• 3. Preheat oven to 350-375 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch cake pan. Spread batter into prepared pan.
• 4. Bake at 350 to 375 degrees about 40-45 minutes. Watch carefully so it doesn't burn. Since no temperature was given in the recipe, and temperatures varied greatly back then, it's hard to judge how long to cook it.
• 5. Cool 10 minutes in pan. May cut and serve from pan, or turn out onto serving plate and slice to serve.

SCOTTISH FRUITED GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Grease and line a deep 7-inch square cake tin.
• Sift the flour, ginger, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together.
• Place sugar, butter, syrup and milk in a pan and warm gently until melted and blended.
• Do not boil.
• Add to the flour with the eggs and mix thoroughly.
• Stir in orange zest and apricots.
• Turn into the baking tin and bake at 325ºF for 60-65 minutes or until firm to the touch.
• Turn out and cool.
• The flavour of this cake improves with age.
• Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days before serving.

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.

EASY SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Gradually add flour and mix well. (Dough will be crumbly). Shape into a ball., On a lightly floured surface, press dough to 1/2-in. thickness. Cut out with a floured 1-in. diamond-shaped cookie cutter; place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Prick each cookie with a fork. Reroll scraps if desired. Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until firm. Cool for 2 minutes before carefully removing to wire racks to cool completely.,

OATMEAL GINGERBREAD (SCOTTISH)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Line a seven inch square baking pan with greaseproof paper which has been well buttered.
• Melt the 2 ounces butter, sugar and treacle in a saucepan over a low heat.
• Sift the flour and baking soda into a bowl.
• Add the oatmeal and spices.
• Add the melted butter and treacle mixture, beaten egg and the milk to the bowl, stirring well until completely blended.
• Pour into the baking pan and bake about 45 minutes.
• Allow the cake to cool for ten minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
• Serve with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Combine egg, sugar, molasses, butter and water; mix well. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, ginger and salt; add molasses mixture. Beat until well mixed. Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350° until cake tests done, 20-25 minutes. Cut into squares; serve warm with whipped cream.