Christmas gingerbread men biscuit nativity recipe

This year is my first year baking gingerbread people! I am so pleased with their texture and taste – they are a slightly softer biscuit with a warm array of Christmassy spices inside – and so I wanted to share the recipe as one of my annual festive posts.

Already this month I have baked one Yule log and two Christmas fruit cakes, so next on the list was a gingerbread biscuit menagerie! You can use any cutters that you desire and I opted for a whole host of seasonal delights – from a partridge, to the moon and stars at night, to a Christmas angel… and, of course, some gingerbread people! To make your gingerbread biscuits, you will need:

Ingredients

165g sr flour

10g cocoa powder

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

50g butter

3 tbsp golden syrup

2 tsp water

2 tsp ginger syrup

½ tsp vanilla essence

1 piece syrup-soaked stem ginger

Recipe

1. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, ground ginger, and ground cinnamon (Tip: A large sieve helps to make the powders more fine)
2. Put the butter and golden syrup in a small pan and gently heat on the hob, before pouring over your dry ingredients and combining
3. Add the water, ginger syrup, and vanilla essence
4. Finely chop the piece of stem ginger and add to the mix – knead into a ball with your hands, and the mixture is now done!
5. Dust your work surface with flour and roll out the gingerbread ball
6. Use your cutters to create your biscuit shapes and place onto a baking tray that is greased with butter/margarine or lined with baking parchment 
7. Place in the oven for 10-12 minutes at 170degrees C
8. Once out of the oven let the biscuits cool on a tray and then ice them with your patterns of choice

Voila! Merry Christmas, and enjoy!