Gingerbread
Makes 20 to 25 1-inch pieces 12 to 14 slices Stale white bread 1 cup honey 1 tbsp. ground ginger 3⁄4 tsp. ground long pepper (a spice like black pepper but with more heat that typically must be ordered online) 1⁄2 tsp. sandalwood powder, if desired, for color (one drop of red food dye can be used instead) 1⁄2 cup or less sugar (enough for sprinkling)
20 to 25 whole cloves Gold leaf
1. Either with a food processor or by hand, grind the bread into coarse breadcrumbs. Commercially bought breadcrumbs will work as well, though the texture from homemade breadcrumbs is preferable.
2. Pour the honey into a large saucepan set over medium heat, and heat to a rolling boil; the honey will become like syrup. Note that it will boil up quite a bit, so do not use a small saucepan. Slowly add the breadcrumbs to the honey while stirring. The mixture should come together and begin to pull away from the sides of the saucepan. Continue to mix until fully combined. Remove the pan from the heat and quickly stir in the ginger, long pepper and sandalwood, if desired. Turn the mixture out onto a sheet of parchment and spread with a spatula. Then, place another sheet of parchment and, with a rolling pin, roll the gingerbread out to about 1⁄2-inch thick (1.2 cm). Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until stiff, about 2 hours.
3. Once the gingerbread is cool, sprinkle sugar on top and cut into 1-inch squares or whatever shape you like. Keep in mind that each piece should be bite size, as they are very strong. They will also be quite sticky, so handle them as little as possible. Insert a whole clove into each piece of gingerbread and fleck with gold leaf. Leave the clove in until serving, then remove it just before eating.
