bread

ultimate gingerbread

servings
Makes 8 to 10 pieces

method

The best gingerbread I’ve ever eaten in my life is from a shop in Grasmere, in the Lake District, that I visited some years ago. They use a secret recipe which is about 150 years old and, of course, they wouldn’t let me in on it, so I decided to have a go at my own... and it’s not half bad – in fact, this will be some of the best gingerbread you’ll ever eat! So, here we go. Don’t forget, you can eat this simply as a biscuit, but it also works well sprinkled over ice cream or dipped into warm compote and cream for afternoon tea. And it’s especially nice when used as a cheesecake base.

Preheat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3 and find a baking tray about 20x35cm. Put the shortbread, sugar and 2 teaspoons of the ground ginger in a food processor and whiz until you have crumbs. Remove 100g of the mix and keep this to one side. Add the remaining teaspoon of ginger to the processor, along with the mixed peel, crystallized ginger, flour and baking powder, and pulse until well mixed.

Melt the syrup, treacle and butter together in a saucepan big enough to hold all the ingredients. When melted, add the mixture from the food processor and stir with a wooden spoon until everything is thoroughly mixed together. Tip into the baking tray and spread out evenly. Press the mixture down into the tray, using your fingers or something flat and clean like a potato masher or a spatula. When the mix is a flat, dense and even layer, pop the tray in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Take the tray out of the oven and sprinkle the hot gingerbread with the reserved crumbs, pressing them down really well with a potato masher or spatula. Carefully cut into good-sized pieces with a sharp knife, and leave to cool in the tray before eating.

• from Cook With Jamie

ingredients

• 400g shop-bought shortbread
• 170g coarse demerara sugar
• 3 level teaspoons ground ginger
• 40g mixed peel, chopped
• 40g crystallized ginger, chopped
• 70g plain flour
• a pinch of baking powder
• 40g golden syrup
• 40g treacle
• 70g unsalted butter

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tried this recipe or a similar one? share your tips...

1. by Allie on Tue 22 Nov 2011 @ 23:52

Dearest JT,<br /> I shall enlighten you. There has been a new, recent discovery in computer technology called the "Copy+Paste". <br /> <br /> Yours truely, <br /> The first computer ever.

2. by rob on Sat 26 Mar 2011 @ 00:46

you forgot the carraway seeds

3. by Sarah on Tue 21 Dec 2010 @ 08:22

Coming up to Christmas i had a craving for the famous grasmere gingerbread! I went out and bought all the ingredients and it satisfied all my cravings! Thanks Jamie Oliver for having the recipe available this was just what i needed. Before i found this recipe i was going to get it posted from Grasmere to Australia! But now i can make it whenever i please. My partner is a chef and he loved experiencing these new flavours. A nice little touch of mine was to cut it out with ginger bread shaped cutouts, alot of fun. :)

4. by Nancy on Sun 19 Dec 2010 @ 17:11

Lovely recipe. I substituted cranberries for candied peel and blackstrap molasses for treacle (originals difficult to come by in rural Ohio). But cooking time was WAY off. Even at 15 minutes it struck me that I needed slightly longer. The pictured gingerbread is thinner than mine and mine still takes a larger area than specified, even though I pressed it down so it was extremely dense.

5. by Rosemary on Fri 01 Jan 2010 @ 16:10

Will this work with Gluten Free shortbread and Gluten free flour, as my husbane loves Grasmere Ginger Bread but has been unable to eat it since he developed Coeliac disease

6. by FastAl on Thu 17 Dec 2009 @ 22:02

so would i just 80g of golden Syrup for this then or is there a big difference between Golden Syrup and Treacle?

7. by sophieshahla on Fri 12 Jun 2009 @ 11:55

I can't wait to try this! I'm addicted to the Grasmere gingerbread!

8. by Geoff on Wed 06 May 2009 @ 18:30

I have tried this, and it's really nice. Quite an inspiration, and much more like the 'real thing' than any I've tried so far.
After some tweaking of this recipe, I have arrived at something which I feel is a bit closer to the Sarah Nelson version. Try it if you want, and enjoy!
See http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10774/ginger-slice-heaven

9. by SMF on Tue 31 Mar 2009 @ 12:29

Found them. Sorry brain on go-slow

10. by SMF on Tue 31 Mar 2009 @ 12:19

Bit difficult to work out what amount of each ingredient to use -unless my view is missing the list of ingredients for some reason

11. by JT on Sat 14 Mar 2009 @ 23:39

Hi....i would like to email your receipe to my friend....but this option is not available..is it possible to add this option? pls....ta very muchly....jt

12. by Katiej on Wed 11 Mar 2009 @ 16:40

Treacle is a thick dark brown sugar syrup used as a form of sweetener with a dark strong bitter flavor sort of like molasses...NO idea where to get it though in the U.S.!

13. by Kerrie on Sat 07 Mar 2009 @ 08:36

Stem ginger is the fresh ginger root, before it's either candied (crystallised) or dried and ground. I get mine from the fruit & veg of my supermarket. Asian shops would have it too. Treacle, I use golden syrup. It's along the line of molasses but not as dark. Mixed peel is simply mixed orange, lemon and lime peels, dried, and chopped finely. I don't like it, and leaving it out of a recipe won't kill the recipe.

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