To make drie Gingerbread

To make drie Gingerbread is a traditional Elizabethan recipe for a classic baked gingerbread made from a blend of pounded almonds, stale cake crumbs, sugar, egg yolks, lemon juice and spices. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Elizabethan version of: To make drie Gingerbread.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

20 minutes

Total Time:

40 minutes

Serves:

6–8

Rating:

Tags : Vegetarian Recipes Baking Recipes Cake Recipes British Recipes

Original Recipe

To make Gingerbread (from Sir Hugh Platt's Delightes of Ladies to adorne their Persons, Tables, Closets, and distillatories with Beauties, banquets,perfumes and waters. Reade, Practise, and Censure 1602)

23. To make drie Gingerbread.

Take halfe a pound of almonds and as much grated cake, and a pounde of fine ſugar, and the yolke of two newe laid egges, the iuice of a Lemmon, and 2.. graines of muske, beate all theſe together till they come to a paſte, then print it with your molds and ſo dry it vpon papers in an ouen after your bread is drawne.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

225g blanched almonds
225g stale cake, rendered into fine crumbs
500g demerara sugar
2 egg yolks
juice of 1 lemon, strained
1/8 tsp musk (or use the flavouring of your choice) [or you can use ground ginger instead]

Method:

Grind the almonds in a coffee grinder or food processor. Turn into a mortar and pound to a paste (add a little of the lemon juice if they look like they are oiling). Beat in the stale cake crumbs and the caster sugar then work in the musk (or other flavouring) and the egg yolks.

Now work in enough of the lemon juice to give you a stiff, but still rollable paste. Form this paste into balls, arrange them on a greased baking tray and flatten into disks (you can use stamps to impress patterns on their surface and to flatten them, if desired).

Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 160°C and bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown on the surface and cooked through. Allow to cool before serving.

Find more Hugh Plat Recipes Hereand more Traditional Elizabethan Recipes Here.