Gingerbread Men

Gingerbread is a warm lightly spiced cookie that can be enjoyed all year round, but it's especially popular at Christmas time. It's a dough that can easily be rolled and cut with cookie cutters or shaped with a template to create a simple gingerbread house.

You can turn the gingerbread cookies upside down to create festive gingerbread reindeer!

Ingredients:

Makes approximately 40 medium sized gingerbread men

• 380g (13 oz) flour
• 3 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 100g (3 oz) brown sugar
• 150g (5 oz) golden syrup
• 150g (5 oz) butter
• 1 egg
• A pinch of salt

 Method:

• Cream the butter, sugar and golden syrup together until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg and beat well.
• Add the cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt. Mix together well using a spatula.
• Add the flour, and work it in until the mixture comes together in a soft dough.
• Wrap the dough in cling wrap or a silicone mat and refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight.
• On a lightly floured board, roll dough out to 3mm (1/8″) thickness. Cut out gingerbread men using a cookie cutter.
• Arrange on a baking paper lined oven tray, and bake at 160 degrees Celsius (320 degrees Fahrenheit) for approximately 15 minutes, or until golden.
• When cold, ice with melted chocolate or royal icing and decorate as desired.

 Royal Icing

 Ingredients:

• 1 egg white
• 250g (9 oz) icing sugar (approximately)
• A squeeze of lemon juice

 Method:

• Beat the egg white until stiff.
• Add the icing sugar a little at a time, mixing well until a peak can be held.
• Mix in the lemon juice.
• Add more icing sugar if necessary, until peaks can be held again.