GINGERBREAD BISCUITS

We couldn’t go past this Christmas classic from our first book. Get the kids to cut out shapes with biscuit cutters and decorate their cookies with royal icing and lollies. You can also use the dough for a gingerbread house: cut the pieces to size before baking, and don’t roll them out too thin as they will become quite fragile. Assemble your house on a firm base and glue together with royal icing.

The following recipe calls for one-quarter of an egg to be added: to do this, crack the egg into a glass, stir it well and use one-quarter of the mixture.

Makes about 12

280 g (10 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1½ teaspoons ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

100 g (3½ oz) unsalted butter

100 g (3½ oz/ ½ cup) soft brown sugar

80 g (2¾ oz) golden syrup or treacle

1 egg yolk

15 g (½ oz) beaten egg (about ¼ egg)

ROYAL ICING

250 g (9 oz) icing sugar mixture

1 egg white

½ teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F). Sift the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and spices together into a large bowl.

Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a large bowl and mix with hand-held electric beaters on medium speed until pale and creamy. Lightly mix together the egg yolk and beaten egg, then add in a slow stream and mix until well combined. Add the dry ingredients, in three batches, mixing thoroughly. Divide the dough into four even-sized portions and flatten each portion into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes, or for up to 3 days.

Remove the dough from the fridge and allow to soften slightly. Roll out each disc between two sheets of baking paper until about 3 mm (¹/₈ inch) thick. Cut into the desired shapes using biscuit cutters or a knife. Re-roll to make use of all the dough.

Place the biscuits on baking trays lined with baking paper and bake, in batches, for 15–20 minutes, or until slightly puffed and golden. Allow to cool on the trays.

Meanwhile, make the icing. Sift the icing sugar through a fine sieve. Place the egg white in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon of the icing sugar. Using a wooden spoon, beat into a smooth paste, then keep adding the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the lemon juice; the icing should be soft enough to squeeze through a piping (icing) bag. At this point you can divide the icing into smaller batches and add a few drops of food colouring.

Place the icing in a piping (icing) bag fitted with a fine nozzle and pipe your desired shapes on the biscuits.

The biscuits can be eaten as soon as the icing hardens, or stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.