My Quick Sheet Pan Gingerbread – The Recipe

For many years now, the first thing I’ve baked during Advent has been my quick sheet pan gingerbread. It’s ready in a flash and can be eaten right away. You can also substitute some of the ingredients to suit your own taste. I’ll list the alternatives here.


First, the ingredients:

• 350 g whole-grain spelt flour
• 200 g honey (I mix 100 g honey with 100 g birch sugar)
• 200 g ground hazelnuts (I toast them in a pan before grinding)
• 5 tsp gingerbread spice (or 3 tsp gingerbread spice and 2 tsp ground cloves)
• 1 packet of cream of tartar baking powder
• a little vanilla
• 1/4 liter milk (I use oat milk)
• 150 g melted butter (I use coconut oil)
• 4 eggs

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients together, then pour onto a baking sheet (greased or lined with parchment paper). The batter is relatively soft.


Baking:

Bake at 180 degrees on the convection setting for about 15–20 minutes. Depending on your oven, you may need to bake it 5 minutes longer.

After baking, let it cool slightly, then spread with chocolate coating.


Here are a few photos:




Here it is, fresh out of the oven



Here it is with the chocolate glaze already on top.



I hope you and your loved ones enjoy it!

Mmm, that sounds delicious! I’ll definitely give this a try 😊 Thanks for the recipe, Monika! 

Thank you so much, Monika—that sounds delicious; it’s really whetting my appetite.
I’ll definitely try this soon. Perfect for the first Sunday of Advent.
Can I use regular wheat flour instead?

Best regards, Andrea

Thank you so much for the recipe, Monika! It sounds very simple and delicious. I’ll definitely give it a try. Can the gingerbread be stored for a longer time?

Thank you so much, Monika!

I’m no great baker, but I’m sure I can manage this recipe too :-)

Best wishes
Nicole 

Dear friends, thank you so much for your enthusiastic feedback. I’m so glad you like the recipe. Give it a try—it tastes absolutely delicious.

Andrea, just try using regular flour. I can’t guarantee that it will turn out like mine, but it’s worth a try.

Ruth, the cake keeps for quite a while. I store it in a cool place in a shallow cake container. That said, I have to admit that in our house, it’s usually gone within two weeks at the latest. This time, it won’t even last a week. 

Another variation <\/u><\/strong>would be to place whole nuts on top (pressing them in slightly) and bake them with it. I always cut it into small pieces. The sheet gingerbread is more like a cake, so it’s not as flat as regular gingerbread.

Mmm, that sounds delicious, and the ingredients are right up my alley, dear Monika. It’s now on my baking list—I’ll definitely give it a try. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Love, Ines

Thanks, dear Ines! :)
You’ll definitely show us a photo of your gingerbread here, won’t you?
Of course, that goes for everyone else who bakes it too.

Then we can all enjoy it together (at least virtually).

I baked it—it tastes delicious.
I improvised a bit with the ingredients. I used half honey and half brown sugar, and instead of gingerbread spice, I used cinnamon and a little baking soda. It only lasts 2 days in our house. It’s very similar to my honey cake. Here, it’s called “Krydderkake.”


Oh—wow!! Andrea, you did a great job—it looks just like mine does when it’s still on the baking sheet. Thanks for sharing!

Unfortunately, ours was all eaten up today. That means I’ll have to bake something again tomorrow. :-)

Spelt flour behaves just like regular wheat flour when baking. One of my daughters baked her bread with spelt for 25 years because her son can’t tolerate wheat.
I plan to bake it myself for the first Sunday of Advent :-) I’ll show you a picture then too. If I bake it today, there won’t be anything left by Sunday; I know my sweet-toothed guy all too well :-)

Dear Akela, I’m already looking forward to seeing your photos of the gingerbread. Yes, spelt flour behaves just like wheat flour. However, I used whole-grain spelt flour here. And that behaves a little differently than regular flour. With regular flour, you need less liquid. It might still work here, though.

Yum—I’m going to tweak the recipe a bit for myself:

instead of honey and eggs, I’ll use sugar beet syrup or maple syrup, along with an egg substitute.

Marlene, I’m curious to see how yours turns out. I’m also planning to try baking it with an egg substitute. I’m sure applesauce would work too—I just don’t know the exact amount yet. 

Just finished decorating—now the chocolate glaze just needs to cool a bit, then it’s time to eat 😁



I followed Monika’s original recipe. The only thing is, my two master bakers snuck some chocolate chips into the batter 😉

Thanks again, Monika, for the delicious and super-easy recipe (even I enjoy baking this way!) 😊

Oh, how delicious, Sonja! It looks really nice with the decoration. And yes, chocolate chips in the batter—I’d already thought of that. And I’ll probably do it that way next time. Great idea!

And thanks for sharing! :) Enjoy!

Dear Monika, yesterday I finally tried your recipe too. I had some candied lemon peel left over, so I added it to the batter, and sprinkled a few chocolate sprinkles on top of the chocolate glaze. We had a taste this afternoon—it was a big hit! Thanks for this quick and delicious recipe.

Oh, thanks, Inges, for your photo and your version. That looks really delicious, too.
Candied lemon peel is one of those ingredients I really don’t like, which is why I’m not necessarily a fan of stollen.



The mini version is enough for us—it tastes great even without the glaze (my husband doesn’t like chocolate glaze; he actually prefers “plain” cakes.)

Oh, thank you, Christina, for sharing your version with us. It looks delicious!

So, Monika, I tried it out too.

The picture was taken right after baking; it’s since been covered with chocolate glaze. I’ve already tasted it—mmh, delicious!!!

Oh, how delicious, Marion. I’m so glad the sheet pan gingerbread has been such a hit and that so many people have already baked it. Great! Thanks for sharing, and enjoy!

My version with egg replacement powder.
Since I forgot the nuts and chocolate coating, I used a little more flour and topped it with leftover frosting to make snowflakes.

Autocorrect...
It should say “snow spots.”

Marlene, your gingerbread looks really delicious, too. I have to say, though, that the nuts in it are the highlight—especially if they’re toasted beforehand. If you try making it again with them, I’d really appreciate your feedback on the vegan version. I’m planning to try that myself soon.

I’ll definitely make this gingerbread again—and next time I’ll add nuts, Moni.

It smells like gingerbread....
I’m making your recipe right now....
It sounded sooooo delicious 😍—I just had to give it a try.
First I Googled what “cream of tartar” is, and then I threw out my baker’s ammonia right away 😂🙈
Thanks for “sharing this with us”....

Oh, that sounds really good, Steffi. I’m sure you’ll let us share in it virtually with a photo, right?

I replaced regular baking powder with cream of tartar baking powder a long time ago. After all, the cake should contain natural ingredients, not chemicals.

Your photos have all made me jealous.
I went ahead and added all the ingredients to my shopping list right away. Let’s see when I get around to it :)
Thanks for the great recipe. 


...a handful of magic stars.... 

Mmm, how delicious! I could take a bite right now. Too bad it’s only virtual. Thanks, Steffi, for sharing. You did a fantastic job with this. And I’m sure it tastes just as good as it looks.

Tina, I can’t wait to hear what you think once you’ve tried it—and to see the photo, of course.

We’re so thrilled with it that we’ll be making it several times. I’m going to try the vegan version now—definitely before Christmas. Tomorrow, it’s time for Kipferl and cookies.

I made two baking sheets right away—fresh out of the oven :)

One is getting a sugar glaze and the other chocolate.

I pretty much stuck to the recipe.
(After I’d already doubled everything else) I realized I’d forgotten the almonds when I went shopping... I only had 100 g of almonds and 100 g of hazelnuts left... so I threw in a packet of chocolate pudding mix. Not sure why ;)

Oh, and I didn’t have any gingerbread spice. But Christmas stollen spice is sure to taste just as good. It’s pretty much the same stuff anyway.

Tina, the gingerbread definitely looks delicious on your two baking sheets. Well, gingerbread spice does taste different from the spice blend used for Christmas stollen. It’s much more intense. And the nuts have a unique flavor of their own, too. Maybe that’s a reason for you to bake a third batch? It’ll be gone faster than you can blink. :-) Your mix definitely sounds unique.

Enjoy!

...and done :)

Yeah, the thing with the nuts really annoyed me... but I had no choice but to keep going anyway—everything else was already prepared.

I just had a little taste, and I think I know what you mean... somehow it’s missing that intense gingerbread flavor that the spice probably would have added.

It still turned out very tasty, though, and the two trays will definitely be empty soon. Half of it is going to my father-in-law, whose birthday is on Thursday.
Since I can’t go myself (new COVID rules…), at least I’m contributing this way.

Tina, that’s a great solution. And yes, I also think you’ll really enjoy this cake.

You definitely shouldn’t skimp on the gingerbread spice in this recipe—that’s the key to it. And now I’m really in the mood to bake one for us again; yours looks so tempting now that it’s done,

My husband really wanted to have that sheet gingerbread again. Since I like to experiment with different ingredient combinations, I baked the following version today (especially for marzipan fans):

Instead of hazelnuts, I used 210 g of almonds mixed with 40 g of apricot kernels (which taste like bitter almonds). I also added 3 tsp of gingerbread spice and a little vanilla. Alternatively, you could use 1 tsp of bitter almond oil, but then you’d need 250 g of almonds.

Of course, I glazed it with chocolate coating again.

It tastes soooo delicious!! The whole apartment smelled like marzipan.

Of course, there’s also a photo

Now it’s time for our tray-bake gingerbread again, just like every year at this time. It’s super quick to bake and simply delicious.

Monika, it’s great that you shared this recipe.

Since it makes a whole baking sheet and there are only two of us, my question is: How do I keep it fresh? In a cookie jar, or is it better to freeze a few pieces at a time and take them out as needed? 

Thanks for bringing this back up. The weekend is saved :) :D 

Thanks, Monika! I copied it right away and will be baking it soon! I love recipes like this!
Best regards, Birgit

Petra, there are just the two of us, too. There’s no way our gingerbread ever gets frozen. It stays fresh for a long time—probably thanks to the spices. We store it in a Tupperware container in the fridge. Works great.

Yes, Birgit, I love recipes like this, too—ones that are quick to make and taste delicious. :)

Feel free to post photos of your finished creations here. That’ll surely inspire even more visitors to try baking it themselves. Enjoy!

A little tip:
I tried a variation a while back. I baked it with cherries inside. It was absolutely delicious! But then again, it might not keep as long. Not that it’s a problem for us anyway.

I’d love to try baking this—but I can’t find an electrician to hook up my stove.

Thanks, Monika—I’ll give it a try. I’m sure the chocolate coating is one of the reasons it stays fresh for so long.

Oh, I’m really looking forward to the Advent and Christmas season.

Yeah, I’m looking forward to it, too. The chocolate glaze on top is definitely sooo good.

Marlene, maybe someone who knows what they’re doing could hook up your stove for you privately. Our landlord did it for us.

Voilà, my first one of 2021 :) 


This time I followed the recipe exactly, but with frosting instead. I’m not really a chocolate fan :)

Now I’m going for a run outside, and then it’s time to eat

Oh Tina, that looks so delicious! :) It looks great—I can practically smell it.