Although I am not one for the traditional Christmas treats such as mince pies, I love the idea of making gingerbread men and houses but never have the time each year to do so. This year, I thought I would actually make the effort and give it a go instead of buying a DIY kit. I found some basic recipes online and thought id share.
You will need :
350g plain flour (a little more for the rolling out)
1tsp bicarb of soda
3-4 tsp ground ginger
175g white sugar (brow sugar would be even better)
1 egg
4 tbsp. golden syrup
Method :
- Sift together all the dry ingredients into a big bowl except the sugar. Once mixed, add the butter until it looks like breadcrumbs and then add in the sugar.
- In another bowl mix all the wet ingredients and then add into the bowl of dry ingredients. This should clump together although I added 1-2 tbsp. of water to make it more doughy
- Knead the dough mixture until it is smooth and wrap in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for 10-15 mins
- Preheat the oven to 180c and place greaseproof paper on two baking trays.
- Once 15 minutes are up, roll the dough out with a rolling pin n a floured surface then cut your gingerbread men. I used a set from Tiger which also had a star, heart and a tree in it.
- Bake for 9 minutes before changing the temperature to 120 c for 5 minutes. (They would have already turned golden but in the middles are not quite done hence turning the temperature down instead of browning the buscuits even more)
- Once cooled down, place on a wire rack and start decorating! I only had tubes of coloured icing but still tried to make them look the best they could but hey ho!
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