Gingerbread people Miriam Nice

• 175g dark muscovado sugar

  Sugar

  shuh-ga

  Honey and syrups made from concentrated fruit juice were the earliest known sweeteners. Today,…

• 85g golden syrup

  Golden syrup

  goal-dun sir-rup

  Golden syrup is a clear, sparkling, golden-amber coloured, sweet…

• 100g butter

  Butter

  butt-err

  Butter is made when lactic-acid producing bacteria are added to cream and churned to make an…

• 350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

  Bicarbonate of soda

  Bicarbonate of soda, or baking soda, is an alkali which is used to raise soda breads and full-…

• 1 tbsp ground ginger

  Ginger

  jin-jer

  Mainly grown in Jamaica, Africa, India, China and Australia, ginger is the root of the plant. It…

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

  Cinnamon

  sin-ah-mun

  A fragrant spice which comes from the inner bark of a tropical tree. When dried, it curls into…

• 1 egg, beaten

  Egg

  egg

  The ultimate convenience food, eggs are powerhouses of nutrition, packed with protein and a…

To decorate

• ready-made writing icing
• chocolate buttons or small sweets (optional)

1. Melt the sugar, golden syrup and butter in a saucepan, then bubble for 1-2 mins. Leave to cool for about 10 mins.

2. Tip the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices into a large bowl.  Add the warm syrup mixture and the egg, stir everything together, then gently knead in the bowl until smooth and streak-free. The dough will firm up once cooled. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 mins.

3. Remove the dough from the fridge, leave at room temperature until softened. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line two baking trays with baking parchment.

4. Roll out the dough to the thickness of a £1 coin, then cut out gingerbread people with a cutter. Re-roll the excess dough and keep cutting until it’s all used up.

5. Lift the biscuits onto the trays and bake for 10-12 mins, swapping the trays over halfway through cooking. Leave to cool on the trays for 5 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Use the icing to decorate the biscuits as you wish, and stick on sweets for buttons. Leave to dry for 1-2 hrs. Will keep for up to three days in an airtight container.