Gingerbread

Christmas shaped gingerbread is fun to make and a great homemade gift for people who you don’t know what to buy for. You can decorate them with icing or chocolate, but I like to keep it simple as these bikkies already taste wonderfully Christmassy.

Ingredients (make 40-50)

100g Brown Sugar

150g Golden Syrup

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

150g unsalted butter

1 egg

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon water

450g plain flour

How to make Gingerbread

1. Pre heat the oven to 180C.
2. Put sugar, syrup, spices and butter in a sauce pan and put on low heat. Stirring continuously until butter melts and the mixture is smooth. You do not need to boil.
3. Turn off the heat and cool. Meanwhile, in a small bowl dissolve bicarbonate soda in water. When the mixture is cool enough to touch add an egg and mix thoroughly, then mix bicarbonate soda water. The mixture may fizz.
4. Add 1/3 of the flour and mix well. Add another 1/3 and mix. Then mix rest of the flour to form glossy dough. Knead lightly and wrap in a plastic film and rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
5. Roll out to 5mm thickness and cut with your favourite Christmas cookie cutters and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
6. Bake 10-15 minutes.

Remember to share this online with the hashtag gingerbread recipe nz, i.e. #gingerbreadrecipenz