Happy Hallowe’en everybody!

This year I thought I’d share my recipe for gingerbread. Partly because they’re perfect to share at this time of year, or to give out to trick or treaters. Mostly because I have had zombie cookie cutters since I went to the cake and bake show back in March. These biscuits have an absolutely fantastic flavour. Almost makes you want to keep your lights off and pretend you aren’t home on Hallowe’en so you can eat these babies yourself!

To make gingerbread  men of any kind you will need:

350g plain flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g butter

175g soft light brown sugar

1 egg

4 tsp golden syrup

To decorate

Shop bought writing icing (you could make your own Royal icing; but this is easier midweek)

 

Sift your flour, ginger and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Cut your butter into chunks and rub into the dry ingredients in order to form breadcrumbs.

Stir in your brown sugar.

In a separate bowl whisk together your golden syrup and your egg until smooth.

Add the golden syrup and egg mix to your sugar and flour breadcrumb mix. Use your hands to mix everything together into a smooth, soft dough. If your dough is too sticky add more flour; otherwise it will be a nightmare to roll out later.

Wrap your dough in cling film and chill for about an hour before rolling out.

Preheat your oven to 190°C. Line your baking tray with greaseproof paper. Flour a hard surface and roll out your dough until it’s around 4mm thick. Use the biscuit cutters of your choice to make gingerbread shapes. If you have no cutter you could always use a knife (not too sharp) to cut out your own shapes.

Place the gingerbread shapes onto your baking tray with some space between them. When you have run out of dough ball it up and roll it out again until you run out of dough. If you need to, cook your gingerbread in batches. This recipe tends to make rather a lot of biscuits.

Bake for around 12 minutes or until golden brown.

When the gingerbread is cool decorate with the writing icing. My housemates A, S and I made a variety of zombie characters including skeletons, a Ninja Turtle and Hulk Hogan.

I hope you all have a happy Hallowe’en, even if your idea of a good night is avoiding children by pretending not to be home!