Honeycomb, or Roll Gingerbread
You’ll find this recipe in:
The Cook's Complete Guide, on the Principals of Frugality, Comfort, and Elegance
By A Lady (Esther Copley)
London, 1810
Historic Recipe:
Honeycomb, or Roll Gingerbread.
Rub together half a pound of flour, a quarter of a pound of butter, a quarter of a pound of fine moist sugar, a teaspoonful of ground ginger, ditto of allspice, ditto of cinnamon, in powder, the rind of one lemon, grate, and as much treacle as will make it in a paste to spread on tins very thin, bake it gently; when hot cut it in squares, and while warm roll it over a stick, like wafers, till cold; keep it in a dry place.
My Recipe:
HONEYCOMB GINGERBREAD
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1½ cups white flour – 225 g
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup softened butter – 113 g
¾ cup packed brown sugar – 113 g
¼ cup molasses
1) In a large bowl, combine the flour, ginger, allspice, cinnamon and grated lemon zest. In a smaller bowl, cream together the sugar and softened butter. Add the butter & sugar to the dried ingredients and mix. Add the molasses and mix until combined.
2) Lightly flour your rolling surface and rolling pin. Roll out thin, cut out into shapes and bake at 275 F/135 C until slightly browned on the bottom. This recipe made 44 2" square cookies.
I was intrigued by this gingerbread cookie recipe from The Cook's Complete Guide (1810) – gingerbread cookies rolled like wafers! The historic recipe instructs us to "bake it gently; when hot cut it in squares, and while warm roll it over a stick, like wafers, till cold". But yet, my gingerbread cookies that I created are flat squares. This is one of those occurrences when a historic recipe doesn't turn out as expected the first time around (they instantly cracked and broke when I tried to bend them). This is a delicious lightly flavoured Lemon Gingersnap, so I recommend it, whether it is rolled or flat.
