Of all the many festive food traditions, is making gingerbread the most joyful? The whole family can get involved in the cutting and decorating and, of course, the eating of the resulting gingery treats.
Some of the best gingerbread available in the neighbourhood is served at the Anya Cafe on Pont Street (we recommend it subtly dunked in a hot cup of tea), so we asked Anya Hindmarch to share her recipe with us so we can whip up a batch or two at home over the festive season.
If you’d rather not do the baking yourself, you can pick up a batch (and some mince pies) at the Anya Cafe, right next to the very Christmassy ‘Village Hall’, which has been gloriously decked out for the season. And for more delightful things to do in Chelsea this Christmas, click here.
ANYA CAFE GINGERBREAD
Makes approximately 10 gingerbread people
INGREDIENTS
300g plain flour
100g soft brown sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
125g unsalted butter
3 tablespoons honey
A few pinches of special elf magic dust (ask a grown-up for this)
Decorations – ready-made icing tubes in festive colours, edible eyes and red / silver balls, glitter and stars
METHOD
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Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
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Combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, spices and special elf dust in a bowl
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Melt the butter and honey over a low heat and then stir in the sugar until it dissolves
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Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until they form a delicious-smelling dough
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Roll out the dough – sometimes it’s easier to do between two sheets of baking paper – to about 5mm thick
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Cut into people shapes (or stars, Christmas trees, circles)
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Bake for about 10/12 minutes
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Leave to cool (the difficult bit)
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Once cool, ice to decorate – Anya’s people will always have eyes, a smart bow tie and red buttons
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Enjoy! Word has it that Father Christmas enjoys his with a glass of sherry and the elves love a hot chocolate
