This month's free sample is a fragrant spice blend to make a moreish spicy gingerbread loaf. You can eat it warm from the oven with whipped cream or ice cream, or wrap it and leave it for a few days where it will develop more flavour and become even richer and stickier!

STICKY GINGERBREAD BLEND (1 portion = 2 tbsp): ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, allspice, mace, coriander, cassia, chilli, green cardamon, rose. May contain CELERY, MUSTARD and SESAME. Allergens are listed in CAPITALS

STICKY GINGERBREAD Recipe:

PREP 5 mins
COOK 20 mins
HEAT 2
SERVES 8

You Need: 

125g butter
200ml milk (any type)
2 eggs (any size) - beaten
100g chopped preserved or glacé ginger (optional)
225g black treacle or molasses
150g sugar (brown sugar is best)
225g self-raising flour, or use 225g plain flour plus 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Whipped cream or ice cream to serve

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3 and grease and line a loaf tin                
Mix the flour (and bicarbonate of soda, if using) with the STICKY GINGERBREAD BLEND and a pinch of salt                
Heat the butter with the black treacle and sugar, stirring regularly, for 5 minutes or until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved                
Stir the melted butter mixture into the spiced flour with the chopped preserved ginger (if using)                
Stir in the beaten eggs and milk until you have a smooth, runny mixture                
Pour the mixture into the lined loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes or until the top is slightly cracked and a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean (cover with foil if the top is browning before the centre is cooked through)                
Leave to cool then serve in slices with a spoonful of whipped cream or ice cream (store the remaining gingerbread in an airtight tin as the flavour and texture will improve over time)                

You can find our stackable tins here

You can read all about our efforts to reduce plastic waste in our packaging blog here