GINGERBREAD COOKIES
As a kid, whenever my mum used to treat us to a bakery treat, my first choice would always be the gingerbread man. Nowadays in my household, the nostalgia of a warming ginger biscuit makes its yearly debut around the Christmas period for some fun festive flair.
INGREDIENTS
FOR THE COOKIES
175g light brown sugar
125g butter
80g golden syrup
1 egg
350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
2tsp ground ginger
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/4tsp ground nutmeg
1/4tsp ground cloves
1/4tsp salt
FOR THE ICING
360g icing sugar
50g golden syrup
6tbsp water
Food colouring paste (optional; avoid using liquid food colouring as this will ruin the consistency)
Sugar coated chocolate candies, to decorate (optional)
METHOD
1
Place the brown sugar, butter and golden syrup in a large saucepan. Melt over low heat, stirring until you have a smooth mixture. Set aside to cool for a few moments whilst you prepare your dry ingredients.
2
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves and salt. Set aside.
3
To the sugar and butter mixture, beat in the egg. Follow with the flour mixture, stirring to form a soft dough. Tip this dough onto some clingfilm, wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.
4
Just before your dough has finished chilling and you are ready to bake your cookies, line two large baking trays with baking parchment, and preheat your oven to 170°C.
Remove the dough from the fridge and lightly dust a clean work surface and a rolling pin with some plain flour,
Roll the dough out to about 1/2cm thickness. Lightly flour your cookie cutters, and chomp out your gingerbread shapes, trasferring them to the baking trays as you go. Re-roll the dough for a maximum of two times; after this, discard the rest, otherwise you will be left with tough cookies.
Bake your cookies for 10-12 minutes, depending on the size of your biscuits. Once out of the oven, allow to cool completely.
5
To make the icing, combine the icing sugar, golden syrup and enough water to form into an easy to pipe icing; you want it not too thick and not too runny. You will likely not need to use all 6tbsp, I just like to have more than enough on hand so I can adjust the consistency to my liking. Feel free to separate this into bowls and add some food colouring to them if you want different colours. You need nothing more than some ziplock bags with a hole snipped at the end to decorate your cookies, though feel free to use piping bags if you have them. Now, unleash your artistic side and decorate to your liking!
Serving Suggestion
These make adorable Christmas gifts!
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