Gingerbread Biscuits

My third and final bake over the Christmas period was my proper gingerbread biscuits. I was working Christmas morning on the early shift and agreed with my colleagues to bring in snacks etc. I LOVE a biscuit with my cup of tea so I thought I make these. 

Unsurprisingly, the recipe came from the Good Food website. My online baking bible.

Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gingerbread_men_99096 

Ingredients

• 350g/12o plain floirz plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 125g/4½oz butter
• 175g/6oz light soft brown sugar
• 1 free-range egg
• 4 tbsp golden syrup
• Icing to decorate

1. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon and pour into the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and blend until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
2. Lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together, add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. Tip the dough out, knead briefly until smooth, wrap in clingfim and leave to chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
4. Roll the dough out to a 0.5cm/¼in thickness on a lightly floured surface. Using cutters, cut out the gingerbread men shapes and place on the baking tray, leaving a gap between them.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown. Leave on the tray for 10 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling. When cooled decorate with the writing icing and cake decorations.

I had fun making these biscuits and found it quite therapeutic to decorate them. I kept my decorations really simple - mainly because it was late on Christmas eve and I wanted to go to bed. I used pre-made writing icing that you squeeze out of the tube to decorate (from Sainsburys). The biscuits are delicious with a cup of tea and have a real lovely ginger kick!