GINGERBREAD ADVENT MOBILE

Fun to do with kids, and great for counting down to the big day!

MAKES 24 ✳ PREP 1hr 30min, plus chilling/cooling ✳ COOK about 20min

✳ 125g (4oz) unsalted butter

✳ 125g (4oz) dark brown soft sugar

✳ 50g (2oz) golden syrup

✳ 275g (10oz) plain flour, plus extra to dust

✳ 1tsp each ground ginger and cinnamon

✳ ½tsp ground nutmeg

✳ ¼tsp ground cloves

✳ ½tsp baking powder

✳ 1 medium egg white

FOR ICING AND TO DECORATE

✳ 1 medium egg white

✳ 250g (9oz) icing sugar, sifted

✳ Sugar sprinkles

✳ 3 mobile rings, thin ribbon and string, to hang

1 In a pan over low heat, melt butter, sugar and syrup, stirring until sugar dissolves. Cool. In a bowl, mix flour, spices, baking powder and ½tsp salt. 2 Beat egg white into cooled syrup mixture, then mix liquid into flour bowl and stir to combine. Bring together, wrap in clingfilm and chill overnight. 3 Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. Line 3 baking sheets with baking parchment. Flour work surface and roll dough to 3-5mm (⅛-¼in) thick. Stamp out 24 festive shapes, rerolling trimmings. Transfer to trays, spacing apart. Make a hole in the top of each using a skewer. 4 Bake for 10-12min until golden. Cool for 5min on trays, re-opening ribbon holes if needed. Cool on wire racks. 5 For the icing, beat egg white in a bowl with a handheld electric whisk to stiff peaks. Beat in icing sugar until smooth and a stiff, pipeable consistency (add a couple of drops of water if needed). Put into a piping bag with a small plain or star nozzle; ice biscuits and decorate with sugar sprinkles. Leave to dry. 6 To hang, tie 3 long strings to each ring, spacing evenly and feeding them through the centre from the smaller rings up to the larger one. Tie them together at the top, ensuring rings hang horizontally. Trim excess. Add a loop to hang mobile. 7 Loop ribbons through biscuits and tie them to rings, sliding to distribute weight. You’ll need White metal rings (15cm, 20cm, 25cm), from £1.56, littlecraftybugs.co.uk.