Gingerbread Men
Sweet, lightly spiced, crunchy biscuits. Shaped like little people and enjoyed by generations.
Prep Time30 minutes mins
Cook Time15 minutes mins
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American, British, Scottish
Keyword: Biscuit, Christmas
Servings: 10 biscuits
To Decorate:
- 100 g Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
- 1-2 tsp Boiling Water
- Sweeties (Candies)
Preheat your oven to 170°c (150°c for fan-assisted ovens, Gas Mark 3-4 or 325°F) and line a couple of baking sheets with greaseproof paper. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together your butter/margarine and sugar, until light (in texture - the colour will remain darker due to the brown sugar) and fluffy. Add your golden syrup and stir through to combine.
Sift in your flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon. Mix your dry and wet ingredients together to make a stiff dough - you will probably need to use your hands!
Gently knead the dough together, before rolling with a rolling pin on a well floured surface, to around 0.5-1cm thick. Using your gingerbread man cutter, cut your people from the dough and transfer to your pre-lined baking sheets, leaving a little space between them. Knead together any off-cut before re-rolling the dough, until you have used it all and cut all your gingerbread people. Depending on the size of your cutter, you should get between 10-20. Bake your gingerbread biscuits in your pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes. The smaller your people, the less time they will take to bake, and vice-versa.When they are golden and dry looking, remove them from the oven to cool. Be careful not to overbake your biscuits - this can happen quickly due to the presence of golden syrup in the dough. Once completely cool, you can decorate your gingerbread men. Mix the icing sugar with a little boiling water, adding it a teaspoon at a time until you have the desired consistency. You can use a piping bag for accuracy, or simply drizzle it in place. Finish with sweeties, such as smarties, jelly tots or chocolate chips.