Gingerbread Shapes

What's more Christmassy than gingerbread? Recently I made a gingerbread house with GB, sticking the pieces together with icing and showering sweets everywhere. Trying to hold it together and watching with bated breath to see if it would stay was part of the fun!

What do you think of our attempt?

 The gingerbread was just the right type, with a little bit of snap and a wonderful flavour. Have you ever made a gingerbread house? I would really recommend it, especially for team-building or ice-breaker exercises. Plus, you get a wonderful slice of gingerbread to take home with you and enjoy with a glass of cold milk; what more could you want?

I'd had bad memories of trying to make gingerbread in the past. A lot of recipes are for the actual moist cake, not the biscuits. One recipe I tried resulted in burnt biscuits so hard you could break your teeth on them!

Still, this year I vowed not to be defeated and decided to make my own little biscuits. I don't have the proper cutters and so I went for stars - a little more grown up! Later on we paid a visit to Lakeland and some Christmas tree cutters and extra icing things slipped into our bag...

I ended up using two different cameras for this recipe. Once I find the second one I will upload some photos of the method!

Gingerbread Stars
175g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
65g  butter
90g light soft brown sugar
1 small egg
2 tbsp golden syrup

White writing icing and silver balls, for decorating

1. Stir the flour, ginger, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon together in a bowl. Blend with the butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.

2. Lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together and add to the mixture. Pulse again until the mixture clumps.

3. Bring the dough together and shape into a circle. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for half an hour. Heat the oven to 180*C.

4. Remove from the fridge and roll out to about 1/2cm thick (the thinner you roll them, the snappier they will be). Cut out the shapes and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

5. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes until golden brown. Cool on the tray for ten minutes before moving to a rack. Leave to cool completely and decorate as wished.