Gingerbread Men
Sweet, lightly spiced, crunchy biscuits. Shaped like little people and enjoyed by generations.
PRINT RECIPE
Servings: 10 biscuits
INGREDIENTS
- 100 g Block Margarine or Butter (at room temperature)
- 100 g Soft Light Brown Sugar
- 3 tbsp Golden Syrup (see Golden Syrup note below)
- 200 g Plain Flour
- ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
- 2 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
To Decorate:
- 100 g Icing Sugar
- 1-2 tsp Boiling Water
- Sweeties
INSTRUCTIONS
- 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 trays withgreaseproof 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 to bring it together! - Gently knead the dough together before rolling with a rolling pin on a well-floured surface to around 5mm-1cm (¼-¾ inch) 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-cuts 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 biscuits.
- Bake your gingerbread biscuits in your preheated 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.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion but these, unfortunately, won't always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.
RECIPE NOTES:
Golden Syrup: Golden syrup is a classic British baking ingredient. If you don't have any, light corn syrup is the closest substitute. For more information, including all possible substitutions, where to buy it and how to make your own, see my Golden Syrup Ingredient Guide.
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