Geoff Cram recently won the professional category at the Vancouver Gingerbread Lane competition for his stunning creation, Evergreen Grove—a detailed gingerbread forest inspired by his favourite family holiday traditions. Known for his precision, creativity, and deep understanding of structure and flavour, Geoff now shares his personal gingerbread recipe so home bakers can try their hand at building something special themselves.
Designed to be sturdy enough for building while still rich, spiced, and deeply aromatic, this dough rolls cleanly, bakes evenly, and holds its shape—making it ideal for gingerbread houses or classic cut-out cookies.
Gingerbread
Ingredients:
- 8 oz butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup molasses
- 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
Directions:
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and black pepper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy. Add the sugar and molasses and beat on medium-high speed until combined and creamy, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing on high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. The butter may look slightly separated, but this is normal.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined.
- Remove the dough, knead briefly, then divide it in half. Place each portion onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap tightly and pat into discs. Chill for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll the dough out on lightly floured parchment paper to ¼-inch thickness. Cut out gingerbread house pieces and remove excess dough. Transfer the parchment with cut pieces onto a sheet tray. Try to group similarly sized pieces on the same tray so they bake evenly.
- Bake for 11–15 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
- Allow the gingerbread pieces to cool for 5–8 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
