My grandson loves gingerbread men. They are so expensive at the bakery and so I did a baking session with him last week. This is a brilliant recipe as it keeps it’s shape when baked. I have found that a lot don’t. From one batch we made gingerbread men, large gingerbread biscuits, and small gingerbread biscuits. One mixture cost less than buying two gingerbread men from the bakery. It is a fun activity to do with children as well.
Ingredients
370g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tsp ground ginger
120g cubed unsalted butter
175g brown sugar
5 tbsp golden syrup
1 large egg.
Icing sugar and candies (Smarties) to decorate.
Method
- Switch on the oven to 180C and line a couple of trays with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and ginger into a large bowl
- Cube the butter and add to the bowl and rub in until it looks like breadcrumbs
- Mix in the sugar and stir through the mix
- Add the golden syrup and the beaten egg and beat until it is a smooth dough.
- Lightly knead the dough on a surface with a sprinkle of flour
- Roll out the dough until it is about half a cm thick and cut out your ginger bread shape
- Place on the trays and bake for about 10 minutes. You don’t want them too well done.
- Place on a cooling rack.
- Decorate when cool.
I made a bit of glace icing with a spponful of icing sugar and a few drops of water to stick the smarties on with. Melted chocolate can be used. These make great gifts for Christmas hampers. We also make reindeer with them by icing them upside down. Our gingerbread men aren’t perfect but he is only 4. We make different shaped gingerbreads for different seasons. During Covid we even made faces with masks on for people, and delivered them.
These will keep for weeks in an airtight tin. I still love gingerbread men as an adult. They bring back lovely memories of my childhood as my favourite aunt used to buy me one when she took me out. We eat the biscuits plain but also decorate them with faces, or use pumpkin or spider cutters for Halloween. They are so versatile. How would you use them?
