Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

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EL Alamein
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Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by EL Alamein »

Just in time for the season. I made this tonight and it is wonderful.

Got the recipe here:

https://theaesthetecooks.wordpress.com/tag/gingerbread/

Hope you enjoy.

Chris
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malocchio
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Re: Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by malocchio »

The caraway turned my taste buds off,but it was worth the look to gaze upon the Dukes sporty attire..
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Squire
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Re: Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by Squire »

Something to think about as I don't care for the dry ginger snap style.
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ShadowsDad
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Re: Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by ShadowsDad »

Interesting, definitely interesting.

I thought treacle was the common molasses as found in our supermarkets, yes/no?
Brian

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Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by drmoss_ca »

Treacle is English for molasses. My mother used to make a sticky moist ginger cake that had chunks of glazed ginger in it. Gingerbread, to the Brits, is generally a dry cake.

C.
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ShadowsDad
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Re: Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by ShadowsDad »

Thanks Chris.
Brian

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Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
EL Alamein
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Re: Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by EL Alamein »

This is a moist sticky gingerbread supposedly due to the treacle. Treacle is like black strap molasses but more syrupy in it's consistency. I had to import the treacle as it's not available locally.

I took this to our Thanksgiving dinner at my mother's Black Sheep Thanksgiving Dinner (all the black sheep of the family, of which I am one, attended) and it was a hit. I served it with a topping of vanilla ice cream and it was excellent.

It is different than traditional gingerbread in that it is very spicy but very good. It is addicting one might say.

The most difficult part of preparing it was making the candied citrus peels ahead of time but it was not all that difficult.

Hope you enjoy!

Chris
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Re: Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by ShadowsDad »

OK, so I'm reading conflicting things here. Is the English treacle like US standard molasses or blackstrap? I don't see how the substitute in the recipe can substitute for either one. Or am I just dense?

Edit: I did some research and basically what I found was that there is light and black treacle. The black isn't quite our (USA) blackstrap molasses. OK, we have nothing that is a direct substitute for treacle. I think using 100% blackstrap would work, so too would a 66%/33% blend of blackstrap/Lyles golden syrup (or corn syrup). Or maybe too just sub' our (USA) standard molasses. I like both types of our molasses, so maybe the solution is to try both types with 2 recipes and find which I like best. If I like neither, and that would be hard to imagine*, then use the blend.

* Heck, I like blackstrap molasses, a few tablespoons, mixed into a glass of milk.
Brian

Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
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drmoss_ca
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Re: Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by drmoss_ca »

EL Alamein wrote:
I took this to our Thanksgiving dinner at my mother's Black Sheep Thanksgiving Dinner (all the black sheep of the family, of which I am one, attended) and it was a hit. I served it with a topping of vanilla ice cream and it was excellent.
I'm sure you belong to the more interesting side of the family! Baaaaa!

Chris
"Je n'ai pas besoin de cette hypothèse."
Pierre-Simon de Laplace
EL Alamein
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Re: Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by EL Alamein »

drmoss_ca wrote:
EL Alamein wrote:
I took this to our Thanksgiving dinner at my mother's Black Sheep Thanksgiving Dinner (all the black sheep of the family, of which I am one, attended) and it was a hit. I served it with a topping of vanilla ice cream and it was excellent.
I'm sure you belong to the more interesting side of the family! Baaaaa!

Chris
LOL! Well, let's just say that I'm one of those children that just has to do it his way. This goes for a lot of stuff and it tends to irritate the powers that be - always.

Chris
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Re: Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by brothers »

A few days ago I had studied this thread, made a list of the ingredients and where to find them, etc., even told my wife I was going to make some. Then it became clear to me that I had no hope of cooking this recipe because it would then become necessary to eat it, most of it, if not all. I'm going to wait until there's a special occasion with a lot of hungry people to help eat it all. The preparations had already been made for the holiday season, so it's going to have to wait. I will make it, and it will be a bit hit. Sometime soon. :D
Gary

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EL Alamein
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Re: Royal Gingerbread (pre 1920)

Post by EL Alamein »

Gary, I nearly forgot about this thread, thanks for bringing it up.

So I received from the Royal Mail the original 1953 recipe book and surprise the recipe is slightly different. Not much, mind you, but it I conjecture it would taste a tad different. Less caraway in the book's recipe but not much.

When I get chance I'll post the differences.

I'm going to make another batch of this myself in the near future and I'll be using the books proportions.

Also, I don't know if you can get ground caraway seed where you are but if you can it will help. I had to grind mine and I chose the blender to do it (more blades a varying heights). I dumped it in and let it go at the highest speed until it was powderized. It took longer than I expected. Just a note to help as this was a surprise to me.

Another tip is use a giant mixing bowl with a hand held mixer for this. We have a professional grade Kitchen Aide mixer and the bowl was not nearly big enough. And the mix started to get so thick in that bowl size that the motor started to labor. I immediately switched to my largest free mixing bowl (a stainless bowl that is very large) and a hand mixer. In that more roomy environ everything mixed a lot easier.

One last caution: black treacle is very very sticky.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Chris
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