Gingerbread, Gingerbread, Gingerbread

I'm currently surrounded by all things Christmassy and the smell of roast potatoes filling the room, I am in heaven. The Christmas posts have begun and this one is a gingerbread overload. I love Gingerbread. Gingerbread men, gingerbread hot chocolate, gingerbread candles, gingerbread shower gel, gingerbread everything. So it was fitting that I baked a nice big batch of gingerbread to fill up our biscuit tin. They are getting munched through fairly quickly, especially after having my mum up for the weekend, but the recipe is super simple that I can easily make another batch to refill the stock. And for this reason exactly I thought I'd share the recipe with you. 

Ingredients:

350g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground ginger (Alter depending on how ginger-y you want them to be)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

125g butter

175g light soft brown sugar

1 free-range egg

4 tbsp golden syrup (I suggest a squeezy bottle)
This recipe is from BBC Good Food which suggests that this will make a batch of 20 however it depends on the size of your cookie cutters!

Method:

1. Sift together your dry ingredients and then crumble in the butter using your hands until they resemble bread crumbs- yes you will get messy. Then stir in the brown sugar.

2. Make a well in the middle of the mixture and add the lightly beaten egg (do this prior to pouring it in) and the golden syrup. Stir together until it becomes a satisfying dough consistency. 

3. Take the dough out of the bowl and place on to a lightly floured surface. Knead until it is smooth, then wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes. 

4. Whilst it is chilling, make yourself a cup of tea. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and line baking trays with greaseproof paper. {Or get some elbow grease behind you and butter, butter, butter those trays}

5. Flour the surface and roll out the dough to '0/5cm thickness', AKA till it's very thin. Now the fun begins- take your cutters and make lots of different shapes, placing them on the baking tray. (Don't forget to leave a gap)

6. Bake for 12-15 minutes/ until they are a golden brown, then take them out of the oven and leave to cool. 

7. Once they are cool, decorate to your hearts content. Disclaimer: Jason decorated many of these and took a quirky approach.

These definitely taste as good as they look and are a perfect festive treat to bake! I'm off to enjoy my Sunday dinner with a glass of wine and The Grinch on the TV. Happy Sunday!