We have been honoured on a couple of occasions during the month of December to have Val Stones visit us in-store signing books and a baking demonstration. Val took part earlier in the year on the BBC's The Great British Bake Off but sadly didn't win the series. However Val won the hearts of many with her cake whispering and energetic and sometimes aerobic enthusiasm for baking. Originally from Conisbrough near Doncaster, Val now lives in Yeovil and we are fortunate enough to have had Val with us during the festive run up. On 17th December Val showed us in-store how she makes Gingerbread, you can watch snippets of this on our Facebook page here. The following Gingerbread recipe has been developed by Val from an old recipe book that she has had for many years and also features on her own website www.bakerval.comThe great thing about Gingerbread is that it can be made ahead of time and chilled for use the same day or frozen for several months. The dough can be used for cutting out shaped biscuits like gingerbread men, stars, snowflakes or Christmas trees.

Gingerbread Recipe by Val Stones

Ingredients

1 Medium egg 25g Molasses or black treacle 200g Caster sugar 2tsp Ground cinnamon 2tsp Ground cardamom ½ tsp Mace or Nutmeg* 250g Butter 5g Baking powder 350g Plain flour ½ tsp Ground ginger (optional) *You can add vanilla essence or lemon zest here in addition if you like

Method

• Preheat an oven to 170°C / 325°F.
• Using a set of scales, measure out the ingredients.
• In a mixing bowl, mix the egg, molasses, caster sugar and spices into a bowl and mix until they are all blended well.
• Melt the butter in a pan on a low heat and allow to cool. Blend with the previously mixed ingredients.
• Sift the flour and baking powder together and blend together with the mixed ingredients.
• Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins.
• Roll out onto a lightly floured surface about the thickness of a pound coin.
• Cut out the gingerbread shapes and place onto a greased baking tray.
• Bake for 8-15 minutes depending on the size of your cut out biscuit, allow to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes before cooling completely on a cooling rack and decorate however you like.

If you would prefer to bake a Gingerbread House, click here for the recipe and instructions...