English ginger candy
Take a quart of hony, & sethe it, & skeme it clene; take Safroun, pouder Pepir, & þrow ther-on; take gratyd Brede, & make it so chargeaunt þat it wol be y-leched; þen take pouder Canelle, & straw þer-on y-now; þen make yt square, lyke as þou wolt leche it; take when þou lechyst hyt, an caste Box leaves a-bouyn, y-stkyd þer-on, on clowys. And if þou wolt haue it Red, coloure it with Saunderys y-now. – Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books
My Version
This is not at all like modern gingerbread. It is more like a chewy ginger spiced candy.
I heated honey to boiling and then lowered the heat and added saffron, ground white pepper, and a good amount of ginger. stirring all the time to keep it from sticking. I then added breadcrumbs slowly while stirring. once it is thick it was removed from the heat. when it had cooled a bit it was turned out onto a flat surface and spread out to about an inch thick. It was left to cool completely and then it was cut into small diamonds. It was lightly dusted with cinnamon before serving