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Gingerbread Men
How to make perfect gingerbread men (women, children, or whatever shape you like). They're soft in the middle, crunchy at the edges, packed full of flavour and hold their shape beautifully.
Active Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
+ CHILLING: 1 hour
Servings: 20 biscuits
INGREDIENTS
- 300 g plain flour
- 3½ tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground mixed spice
- 125 g butter - soft at room temperature
- 90 g soft light brown sugar
- 85 g soft dark brown sugar
- 75 g golden syrup
- 1 medium egg
- ¼ tsp salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cream together the butter (125g) and sugars (90g soft light brown sugar, 85g soft dark brown sugar) until light and fluffy.
- In a seperate bowl, lightly beat the egg (1 medium) to combine the yolk and white. Gradually beat the egg into the butter and sugar mixture, adding a little at a time.
- Once all of the egg has been added, beat in the golden syrup (75g).
- Add the flour (300g), ground ginger (3½ tsp), ground mixed spice (1 tsp) and salt (¼ tsp) and mix into the other ingredients. I start by using a wooden spoon and then bring the mixture together with my hands.
- Wrap the gingerbread dough in clingfilm (or a reusuable wrap) and refrigerate for an hour (minimum).
- Once the dough has chilled, pre-heat your oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Line 2-3 baking sheets with baking parchment or reusable baking liners.
- Roll out the dough to roughly the thickness of a £1 coin and cut using your chosen cutter. Place each gingerbread man (or whatever shape you've opted for) onto the prepared baking sheet.If the dough is soft and sticky, refrigerate the biscuits for another hour (or 10 minutes in the freezer), otherwise bake immediately.
- Bake the biscuits for 8-10 minutes until they are golden around the edges, but still pale in the middle.
- Remove the biscuits from the oven and move them to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
NOTES
The number of biscuits this recipe makes is dependent on the size of your cutters. The recipe makes 20 biscuits of the size shown (10cm tall).
If it is your first time making this recipe or you have a question, then I'd recommend having a read through the FAQs above the recipe.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Calories: 136kcal | Carbohydrates: 19.4g | Protein: 1.9g | Fat: 5.6g | Saturated Fat: 3.4g | Sodium: 40.3mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 8.8g
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.