A classic when it comes to easy festive cooking recipes, gingerbread is a great choice when December rolls around. Plus, not only can ingredients be altered to make it vegan-friendly, but ingredients can also be added to suit your personal preferences. Want to make it more festive? Pop in some ground nutmeg. Fancy giving it a fruity zing? Squeeze in a little juice from an orange.
Ingredients:
- 225g plain flour
- 100g brown sugar
- 100g butter (or vegan butter of choice)
- 3 tbsp golden syrup
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 thumb-sized amount of grated ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
For decoration:
- 100g icing sugar
- Sweets of your choice
Instructions:
- Melt & mix: In a saucepan, melt the butter, syrup, and sugar together. Stir occasionally and set aside to cool.
- Combine dry ingredients: In a large bowl, combine flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, and cinnamon. Add in the syrup mixture and grated ginger. Stir and use your hands to form a dough. It may feel soft, but it'll firm up in the fridge.
- Chill the dough: Sandwich the dough between two baking sheets, roll it out to ½cm thickness, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat & shape: Preheat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. While the dough chills, line a baking tray. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut out your chosen shapes. Place them on the prepared tray. Top tip: use a straw to make a hole in the top of your design. Then, when it's cooked and cooled, you can put string through it and hang it on your tree.
- Bake & cool: Bake for 10-12 mins (adjust for shape size). Let them cool completely on a wire rack.
- Decorate: Mix the icing sugar with 2-4 tbsp of water to create a thick consistency that's thick enough to make clear patterns . Decorate the cooled biscuits with icing and your choice of sweets.
