Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Gingerbread people
Make decorating these adorable gingerbread people even easier (and less messy!) with tubes of shop-bought icing and sweets. Get the kids involved too
175g dark muscovado sugar 85g golden syrup
100g butter
350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 egg, beaten
To decorate: ready-made writing icing chocolate buttons or small sweets (optional) 1 Melt the sugar, golden syrup and butter in a saucepan, then bubble for 1-2 mins. Leave to cool for about 10 mins. 2
Tip the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a large bowl. Add the warm syrup mixture and the egg, stir everything together, then gently knead in the bowl until smooth and streak-free. The dough will firm up once cooled. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 mins. 3 Remove the dough from the fridge, leave at room temperature until softened. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line two baking trays with baking parchment. 4
Roll out the dough to the thickness of a £1 coin, then cut out gingerbread people with a cutter. Re-roll the excess dough and keep cutting until it’s all used up. 5
Lift the biscuits onto the trays and bake for 10-12 mins, swapping the trays over halfway through cooking. Leave to cool on the trays for 5 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Use the icing to decorate the biscuits as you wish, and stick on sweets for buttons. Leave to dry for 1-2 hrs. Will keep for up to three days in an airtight container.