How It's Made: Gingerbread Houses

Our gingerbread recipe is over 100 years old. It is made with no fat or refined sugar. The original recipe called for pot ash and baking ammonium which we have changed to baking powder. The honey and molasses is boiled to create invert sugar that will keep the resulting gingerbread moist. The raisins and oranges are ground to create a fruit paste that will mimic fat in the dough. If someone is allergic then the nuts can be eliminated, but were considered a treat in medieval Germany. The fruit paste is necessary because there is no added fat. The whole wheat or rye flour makes the dough easier to roll out plus the added value of incorporating more grains in your diet. Below is a recipe for traditional gingerbread along with a video on how we make them!

Ingredients:
1 cup honey
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup water
6 oz ground raisins
3 oz ground candied oranges
4 oz ground nuts
1.5 lb cake flour
6 oz whole wheat or rye flour
1 egg
1/2 oz baking powder
1/2 oz cinnamon
1/4 oz ginger
1 oz anise seed
2 dash of each mace and cloves
1 dash nutmeg

Mixing the Dough:
Boil honey, molasses and water into a syrup and let cool. In a mixer with the dough hook attached add the slowly incorporate the syrup into the fruit paste. Add in the rye flour and then the egg. Slowly add the flour and then the spices. The anise seed and spices create a wonderful aromatic dough that will make your kitchen alive. Once mixed, cover the dough with saran and let sit at least overnight and used within a week.

Construction & Decoration:

Click Here to watch a festive video