I lived most of my early life thinking that gingerbread is something that cannot be made from scratch at home, and the store-bought mystery dough was all I’d seen of the process. A couple of years ago, however, I was struck by a child-like curiosity towards learning the truth behind the whole thing. I googled, I saw, I conquered. My curiosity quickly changed into anger. Why had I been kept in the dark about something so simple yet so profound? Naturally, I can’t go back in time and tell little me the truth, but I can ease the pain a little by telling it to all of you who might have lived in the same darkness for too long. So here it goes, my wonderful, versatile, gingerbread recipe:

200 g butter (coconut oil if avoiding dairy)

1,5 dl sugar (I use palm sugar)

1,5 dl syrup (I use maple syrup)

2 eggs

7-8 dl flour (I use a mix of buckwheat, rice, teff and almond)

1 dl potato flour

2 tsp baking soda

3 tsp ground cinnamon

3 tsp ground cardamom

3 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cloves

a pinch of salt

+ flour for rolling the dough

+black pepper to sprinkle on top

1. Leave out the butter so it softens a bit, and beat into smaller pieces.
2. Add the sugar to the butter and turn until even.
3. Bring the syrup to boil and pour over the sugary butter. Mix until even.
4. Add the eggs and continue turning until even.
5. Mix all the dry ingredients in another bowl (not the black pepper).
6. Little by little, add the flour mix to the dough, continuously turning, using your hand once it begins to thicken.
7. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap with cling film and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours (overnight is better).
8. Sprinkle some flour on a clean table, break a piece of the dough ball, and roll it out on the floured surface using a rolling pin. Use gingerbread molds to press the dough into desired shapes.
9. Place on a baking tray with baking paper, sprinkle with black pepper, and bake in 200°C for ca 5 min.