Alphabetic Recipes G — Gingerbread Corpses Recipe

Today we have a classic American recipe for a traditional Halloween gingerbread man that goes down a storm with the kids..

Today's is the eighth entry of my new series of Alphabetic recipes. Each day for the next month and more, I will be adding a new recipe linked to a different letter of the alphabet. As I collect recipes from all over the globe, and have lots of Welsh recipes, I am going to use a blend of the Welsh and English alphabets:

A | B | C | D | E | F | Ff | G | H | I | J | K | L | Ll | M | N | O | P | Q | R | Rh | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

so there will be 30 entries in total. As today is the eighth day in this series I am providing a recipe starting with the letter 'G'.


This is a modern American recipe for a classic Halloween snack of gingerbread man biscuits (cookies) decorated to look like corpses.

Gingerbread Corpses Recipe

Ingredients:
500g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
100g granulated sugar
100g butter or shortening
1 egg
250ml black treacle (molasses)
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp warm water
50g seedless raisins (to decorate)
black icing

Method:

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until thoroughly combined. In the meantime, gently warm the molasses (treacle) until liquid then beat this into the creamed mixture. Dissolve the baking soda into the warm water and beat this with the other liquid ingredients.

Continue beating the mixture until smooth then gradually work in the flour, spices and salt. Mix until completely blended then bring everything together as a dough. Cover the bowl with clingfilm (plastic wrap) then set aside to chill in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

At the end of this time, turn the dough onto a lightly-floured work surface and roll out to about 6mm (1/4 in) thick. Cut out gingerbread men shapes using a pastry cutter then transfer to a lightly-greased baking tray. Press the raisins into the top of the gingerbread men to form buttons and noses then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 170ºC (340ºF) and bake for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

When cold, use the  black icing (frosting) to make 'X'-es where the eyes should be and to paint grimaces or tombstone teeth on the face. Allow the icing to set before serving or storing.

This recipe is based, with permission, on the Celtnet Recipes recipe for Gingerbread Corpses.

This recipe is brought to you in conjunction with the Celtnet Guide to Recipes Beginning with 'G'.