Gingerbread People — ALANA SMITH

Christmas cookies as my three-year-old daughter calls them. So much fun to make and I promise the whole house will smell amazing!

Feel free to use a different spice blend along with the ground ginger. I make these for my children as a holiday treat, so I keep the ginger fairly mild, so if you like spiced biscuits a bit warmer, add another teaspoon or so of ground ginger. The dough can be frozen for up to three months (well wrapped). The baked biscuits keep well in an airtight container and makes for a great edible gift around Christmas time. If you don’t have gingerbread people shaped cutters, any shape cutters will do (or go free hand). Even though royal icing is the traditional choice for decoration and to use as an edible glue, for a small batch of gingerbread, I prefer melted white chocolate instead.

Enough for about 16 - 20 large gingerbread biscuits

GINGERBREAD DOUGH

unsalted butter, 100g

golden syrup, 75g (60ml or 1/4 cup)

brown sugar, 110g (125ml or 1/2 cup)

ground ginger, 20ml (4 teaspoons)

ground cinnamon, 5ml (1 teaspoon)

ground mixed spice, 5ml (1 teaspoon)

bicarbonate of soda/baking soda, 2.5ml (1/2 teaspoon)

plain/cake/all-purpose flour, 300g (2 cups)

fine salt, 1.25ml (1/4 teaspoon)

egg, 1

DECORATION

white chocolate, about 100g - optional

Smarties, about 50g - optional

To make the dough, place the butter, syrup, sugar and spices in a medium saucepan over a medium heat (stirring occasionally) until all the butter has melted and the mixture starts to bubble.

Remove the saucepan from the heat then add the bicarbonate of soda/baking soda (it will froth a little).

Pour the mixture into a large heatproof mixing bowl (or the bowl of a free-standing mixer) then add the flour and salt.

Mix (by hand using a firm spatula or wooden spoon or by using a free-standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment) until almost combined, then add the egg and mix until a stiff, sticky dough forms.

Do not add any extra flour even if the dough feels sticky.

Press the dough into a ball, flatten slightly with your hands then wrap up and refrigerate until the dough is a bit firmer (about 30 minutes to an hour or overnight if you prefer) - this will make the dough substantially easier to work with.

After chilling the dough, line a large baking tray (or two medium size trays) with baking paper.

You can leave the dough for 10 minutes out of the fridge to soften slightly if you have refrigerated it overnight.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a thickness of about 5mm.

Cut out biscuits (you can dip your cutter in flour to prevent it from sticking to the dough) then place the dough shapes on the lined baking tray/s spaced about 2cm apart.

Press the remaining dough together again and repeat the rolling and cutting out until you have used all the dough.

You can place tray/s back in the fridge for 10 - 20 minutes if you have time - this helps the biscuits to keep their shape during baking.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).

Bake the biscuits for approximately 15 - 20 minutes (the baking time will depend on the size of your biscuits - when ready, the edges of the biscuits will have browned slightly, and they have a matt appearance, but they will still be soft).

Leave the biscuits on the tray/s to cool and firm up.

To decorate, break the chocolate into blocks before melting the in microwave in short bursts, stirring occasionally.

Transfer the melted chocolate into a small piping bag.

To make a small baking paper piping bag, cut a square piece of baking paper diagonally in half. Fold one of the triangles into a cone by holding one side and bringing two of the tips together.