First christmas baking post | Gingerbread men

For a while how I had been looking for the perfect sized gingerbread man cutter. They where always so small. I found one in a shop we have in the UK called Boyes, they sell all kinds of bits and bobs. It's just a simple shape is made of metal (traditional, I guess). For my recipe I dug out the Be-Ro book. Something I think a lot of peoples households will own. As always when I bake, I either do it a little wrong or dont have some of the ingredience. 

I'll share with you all now the exact ingredience I used:

• 320g of plain flour (a little extra for dusting your work surface)
• 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
• 3 tsp of ground ginger (can be changed depending on how strong you want them to be)
• 1tsp of cinnamon
• 180g of light brown sugar
• 130g of butter
• 1 egg
• 6 tbsp of golden syrup 

My method:

• I first set the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4
• Then I melted my butter for 150 seconds in the microwave until it was soft and added that to the flour, bicarbonate, cinnamon and ginger and mixed until it looked like bread crums then added the sugar.
• Then I beat my egg and golden syrup together in a cup.
•  I then added that to the mixture and mixed until it formed little clumps. 
• At this stage I tipped it out onto the dusted suface and binded and kneaded the mixture together until it formed a smooth dough.
• I then decided to chill my dough as it was getting warm so I cling filmed it and left it in the fridge for around 30 minutes (I guess this isn't vital)
• Finally, I floured my surface again and rolled out my dough and cut the men into their shapes and placed them on a greased tray and left them in the oven for 10-12 minutes and they where nice and golden.
  

When I came to decorating. I can certainly say that is not my strong point as mine are all a little ugly. However they sure do taste good so that makes up for it. Baking these made me feel super festive and if you choose to make some to, do let me know!

Antonia x