Grasmere Gingerbread Recipe (2024)

29 comments

If you’re a keen baker, and interested not only in British baking recipes but in the history behind them, Regula Ysewijn’sOats in the North, Wheat from the South: The History of British Baking, Savoury and Sweet is a book for you.

Read our full cookbook review of Oats in the North, Wheat in the South.

In the meantime, enjoy this recipe for traditional Grasmere Gingerbread, shared with permission from Murdoch Books.

Grasmere Gingerbread Recipe (2)

4.25 from 8 votes

Grasmere Gingerbread

Grasmere is a small picturesque village in the hilly landscape of the Lake District in the north of England. Its surroundings are poetic, so it is not surprising that the poet William Wordsworth took up residence here to write. His sister, Dorothy, wrote in her diary in 1803 that she was going to buy gingerbread for her brother in Grasmere.

Fifty years later in 1854, Sarah Nelson started baking her version of Grasmere gingerbread, which she sold from her little gingerbread house–like stone cottage just a few yards from the final resting place of William Wordsworth. Now, more than 150 years later, you can still buy gingerbread in the same little house. The name Grasmere gingerbread has since been given a trademark and no other gingerbread can carry the Grasmere name. This led to a gingerbread war about ten years ago, because Sarah Nelson was not the only one selling her biscuits in the area and gingerbread had clearly been made in Grasmere before she began selling it. In the village, there is talk of the Dixon family, who sold gingerbread in the 18th century, and in a book from 1912 I discovered that in the church a few metres from Sarah’s shop, gingerbread was given to the children as early as 1819. They called it Rushbearers gingerbread. (‘Rushbearing’ is an old English church ceremony for which bundles of grass are collected to cover the rough earth floor of the local church. The bundles had to be replaced every year; this usually happened on the name day of the church and was called ‘Wakes Day’. In Britain, there are many bakes connected to these ‘Wakes Days’.)

The same 1912 book says that the Walker family baked gingerbread in their small shop, and that in 1912 a Mrs Gibson ran a gingerbread store after a Mrs Mary Dixon had been the gingerbread maker there for years. Strangely enough, Sarah Nelson is not mentioned in this book. What is special is that it seems that baking gingerbread was a women’s task, while at that time bakers were mainly male.

Servings 4 large pieces or 8 halves

Author Regula Ysewijn

Ingredients

  • 225g(8 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
  • 115g (4 oz) soft brown sugar
  • 1tspground ginger
  • ¼tspground nutmeg
  • ¼tspbicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 115g4 oz butter, at room temperature butter, for greasing
  • flourfor dusting

Recipe Notes

For a 20 cm (8 inch) square cake tin.

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F).

  • Prepare the cake tin:Apply a thin layer of butter with a folded sheet of paper towel and divide it nicely into the corners of the tin. Apply a strip of baking paper in the tin that covers two sides and protrudes slightly above the top of the tin so that you can remove the cake more easily after baking. Dust the lined tin with flour, hold the tin above your workbench or sink and tap on the bottom to remove the excess flour.

  • Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and rub the butter into the mixture until it is the consistency of breadcrumbs. This is best done in a food processor or blender. The dough won’t come together as with other cookie doughs – it will remain as crumbs.

  • Weigh 70 g (2½ oz) of the crumb mixture and set it aside. Press the remaining crumb mixture into the cake tin, using a mini rolling pin or a sheet of baking paper to push the crumbs down firmly. Spoon the reserved crumbs over the top and press very lightly to distribute the crumbs over the surface of the dough.

  • Lightly score the top of the gingerbread, first dividing it into four squares and then dividing each square in half.

  • Bake the gingerbread for 25 minutes, then immediately remove it from the oven. Cut the gingerbread into portions along the marked lines while it is still hot.

If you decide to buy this book after reading our content, please consider clicking through our affiliate link, located within the post and in the footnote at the end.

Kavey Eats received a review copy ofRegula Ysewijn’s Oats in the North, Wheat from the Southfrom publisher Murdoch Books. Photography byRegulaYsewijn. Available on Amazon UK at time of review for £17.70 (RRP £25).

Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!29 Comments to "Grasmere Gingerbread Recipe"

  1. Shereen

    That reads like a really interesting recipe, thank-you for sharing. As a fan of the cakey gingerbread with molasses in it, I’m going to have to give this one a go. So I’ve just added soft brown sugar to the shopping list.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hope you enjoyed!

    Reply
    Audrey

    Made this but I added candied peel or mixed peel it’s great makes it have a chew feel too it

    Reply
  2. Alicia

    I have everything to make this!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Yaay

    Reply
  3. Sarah Trivuncic

    I’m very familiar with Grasmere gingerbread as I already related to you via Facebook but I hadn’t known about the Wordsworth connection nor the background to the recipe. Looks like another well researched book from the lovely Regula!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I love how Regula really researches the history of recipes!

    Reply
    Jeff Cook

    I’ve watched the videos and wonder if I can add Molasses

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Not sure which videos you are referring to Jeff? As the recipe is from a cookbook, I’m not familiar with how changing the ingredients may affect the texture, but if you give it a try, would love to hear what you think!

    Reply
  4. Jacqui

    I just made this. It’s not quite the same as the original plus not enough ginger! It’s quite light in colour compared to the original , so a bit of work needed to get it right

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hope you still enjoyed it!

    Reply
  5. Beth

    I have made this a few times and love it! I tend to amplify the ginger a bit more than the recipe calls for. My relatives from the Lake District enjoyed it very much!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    That’s lovely to hear and thanks for your note about amplifying the ginger!

    Reply
  6. Anna

    Does anyone know what the part about preparing the tin, see page 21 means? Does it just refer to greasing it or using baking paper, or something more involved/specific?

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Apologies, I’d not spotted that when I published the extracted recipe, I’ll amend.
    In the meantime, the instructions on preparing baking tins are as follows:
    Apply a thin layer of butter with a folded sheet of paper towel and divide it nicely into the corners of the baking tin. Apply a strip of baking paper in the tin that covers two sides and protrudes slightly above the top of the tin so that you can remove the cake more easily after baking. Dust the lined tin with flour, hold the tin above your workbench or sink and tap on the bottom to remove the excess flour.

    Reply
  7. Pia

    I love Grasmere gingerbread, so I’m looking forward to trying your recipe. But shouldn’t there be lots of little bits of candied ginger in the recipe?

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hi Pia, this recipe is extracted exactly as written from Regula Ysewijn’s Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. Hee recipe is based on historical research that she undertook.
    You are welcome to adjust if you would like!

    Reply
    Mel ceavey

    I loved the recipe, it makes fantastic gingerbread,. I also read Regulas book and although the recipes were great, I didn’t think there was enough information about how baking evolved in Britain. I managed to get hold of a copy of Emma Kays History of Bitish Baking, and thought it covered much more of the aspects of baking through British history, which is what I was looking for.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I guess it’s a balancing act to create a book with historical context but which appeals to a wide audience of bakers, in order to achieve sales. Emma Kay’s book sounds great for deeper historical content!

    Reply
  8. kaveyeats

    Ah thank you for the feedback, and for the book recommendation as well, really appreciate it!

    Reply
  9. Susan

    I made this recipe after seeing a post along with a photo of the result on reddit, from someone who had just made some.
    We thought it was delicious and also, as someone above mentioned, thought next time we would slso “amplify” the ginger. I wonder how it would be with fresh grated ginger or grated candied ginger?

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Thanks so much for your feedback. I’m guessing that being a traditional recipe, flavours were more subtle than we prefer them to be now. I think adding extra ginger in the form of candied or fresh would work really nicely!

    Reply
  10. Emma

    We usually travel up to the lakes 2 or 3 times a year and always make a bee line to Sarah Nelson’s. I have been craving Grasmere gingerbread and this totally fits the bill!
    I’ve made this recipe 4 times now and have begun adding candied ginger and a little extra powdered ginger. An absolute hit with all of the family! The recipe always works well when vegan butter is substituted for the regular stuff. Sending a batch to the daughter in Leeds on Monday.
    Best gingerbread recipe ever!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    That’s really lovely to hear, I do love Regula’s recipes!👏🏼

    Reply
  11. Claire jones

    The taste is perfect (put a lot more ginger in) the chewy texture isn’t there, I wonder if the addition of am egg would help or…maybe I spread it too thin

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hi Claire, as this recipe is from Regula’s cookbook, I’m not able to answer what the addition of an egg might do, but I would think it’s worth a try. Alternatively, I wonder if leaving it to mature for a couple of days would help – that’s what I do for malt loaf and it could possibly work here?

    Reply
  12. Yvonne Huntington

    I have just currently got a piece of grasmere gingerbread and a piece from this recipe in front of me. They are both nice, but very different to each other. The grasmere one is harder and Chewier with bits in it that are probably crystallised, ginger and possibly chopped mixed peel.

    Reply
    Kaveyeats

    Hi Yvonne, I believe this is a historical recipe that author Regula has researched and recreated and as such it may not be identical to current versions sold today.

    Reply

Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!

Grasmere Gingerbread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is special about Grasmere Gingerbread? ›

Victorian cook Sarah Nelson invented Grasmere Gingerbread® in 1854 in the English Lake District village from where it gets its name. A unique, spicy-sweet cross between a biscuit and cake, its reputation quickly spread and it is now enjoyed by food lovers all over the world.

How to soften Grasmere Gingerbread? ›

You may also freshen or warm Grasmere Gingerbread® by placing it on a baking sheet in a conventional oven, moderate heat for a few minutes. It can be frozen on the day of purchase/receipt; defrost as you would with slices of bread - just take out the number of slices you intend to eat on the day.

What are the three types of gingerbread? ›

The three distinct types of gingerbread are brown gingerbread, wafer-based gingerbread and honey gingerbread.
  • BROWN GINGERBREAD.
  • WAFER GINGERBREAD.
  • HONEY GINGERBREAD.

What is the surprisingly dark history of gingerbread? ›

​Superstitions about gingerbread flourished in the 17th century. Witches supposedly made gingerbread figures, ate them, and thereby caused the death of their enemies. Dutch magistrates went so far as to declare baking or eating molded cookies illegal.

What is Victorian gingerbread? ›

gingerbread, in architecture and design, elaborately detailed embellishment, either lavish or superfluous. Although the term is occasionally applied to highly detailed and decorative styles, it is more often applied specifically to the work of American designers of the late 1860s and '70s.

What town in England is known for gingerbread? ›

One hundred years later, the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire became known for its gingerbread, as is displayed on their town's welcome sign, stating that it is the "home of gingerbread".

Does Grasmere Gingerbread have dairy? ›

Is it dairy free? Sorry, no.

What is the best ingredient to keep gingerbread houses from falling apart? ›

She recommends using granulated sugar instead of royal icing to hold the walls together. How? Just melt the sugar in a pan over low heat. You want to allow it to turn brown, but make sure not to burn it (otherwise it won't taste so great).

Should gingerbread be soft or crunchy? ›

Should gingerbread cookies be hard or soft? Soft gingerbread biscuits are ideal. They ought to be flexible. However, they should still be somewhat elastic, and if you hold them too firmly because you're so excited to eat them, you might even be able to leave your fingerprints on the cookie!

Why did my gingerbread go hard? ›

“There are some gingerbread recipes that are hard right after baking and need to sit for a few days to soften. Molasses and honey hardens gingerbread, but as the sugar absorbs moisture, it will get softer.”

How many calories are in a piece of Grasmere Gingerbread? ›

There are 291 calories in 1 serving of Grasmere Gingerbread Cookie.

What is the best gingerbread in the world? ›

Grasmere Gingerbread® is a spicy-sweet taste sensation. Invented in 1854, this iconic British biscuit is baked fresh every day inside a historic cottage in the Lake District.

What are gingerbread men called now? ›

Some bakeries are now calling gingerbread men by the gender neutral term “gingerbread people.” Do you agree with the change? - Quora. Wow. I thought the gingerbread men in dresses were just cross-dressers.

Is gingerbread healthy? ›

Surprising benefits

Research shows it may aid in digestion, reduce nausea and help fight the common cold and flu. It's also believed ginger may support weight management, help manage arthritis and may also alleviate menstrual symptoms. Molasses is another ingredient sometimes found in gingerbread.

Where is the world's largest gingerbread town? ›

The World's Largest Gingerbread Town | Pepperkakebyen in Bergen | Hurtigruten US.

What are some interesting facts about gingerbread? ›

5 Things You Might Not Know About Gingerbread
  • Originally gingerbread was made with honey and breadcrumbs. ...
  • Queen Elizabeth once served her guests miniature gingerbread versions of themselves. ...
  • Children could learn the alphabet using gingerbread letters. ...
  • Queen Victoria enjoyed sharing gingerbread with her dog.

What is the significance of gingerbread? ›

Gingerbread was also worn as a talisman in battle or as protection against evil spirits. Gingerbread was a significant form of popular art in Europe; major centers of gingerbread mould carvings included Lyon, Nuremberg, Pest, Prague, Pardubice, Pulsnitz, Ulm, and Toruń.

What city is known for gingerbread? ›

Pierniki - the famous ginger spiced cookies that hail from Poland's medieval city of Toruń, have a history that is well over 700 years old! Because of its long-upheld tradition, Polish gingerbread has become a symbol of the city, famous not only all over Poland but also recognized all over the world!

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