Gingerbread

Ingredients

• 115g butter
• 85g treacle
• 85g golden syrup
• 340g plain flour
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• Pinch salt
• 115g light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 150ml milk
• 1 tsp bicarb (aka baking soda)

Directions

From George & Cecelia Scurfield, modified to be more like mum’s.

Set oven to 175C. Select either a 2 lb loaf tin, or a 12" x 9" baking tray.

Melt butter, milk, sugar, treacle and syrup in a saucepan; don’t let it get too hot. If it does, allow enough time to cool; you don’t want to scramble the eggs.

Sieve flour, salt and spices together. Pour in the melted liquids from the saucepan, and mix well. Add the eggs, lightly beaten. Dissolve the bicarb in the milk, add and mix well, then put in your pan and into the oven directly, as the bicarb will start to work as soon as it is mixed in.

Bake at 350F/175C or 160C fan for 45 mins - 1.5 hours in loaf tin, or 20 - 25 minutes in a 12”x9” tray. Keep checking the time, I haven’t really settled on a best time for this. Best left in a cake tin for a day or two.

Options

Combine cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, nutmeg for mixed spice. To create a substitute for mixed spice, try 1.5 tsp ginger, 1.5 cinnamon, 0.25 cloves, 1/8 nutmeg/mace. Could try extra golden syrup, or swap with a light honey or agave nectar; the treacle is required to activate the bicarb.