Gingerbread Men

Submitted by AaliyahsAaronsMum

"This is a Delia Smith recipe so CANNOT go wrong with it! You may decorate it with currants or pipe on the icing after its been baked and cooled down or simply leave them plain."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 20

ingredients

• 75 g soft brown sugar, sieved
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 tablespoon black treacle
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 1⁄2 orange, zest of, finely grated
• 1 tablespoon water
• 95 g butter
• 1⁄2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 225 g plain flour

directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. You will need 2 lightly greased baking sheets.
3. In a large saucepan, put in the brown sugar, golden syrup, treacle, all the spices and orange rind with 1 tablespoon of water.
4. Bring them to boiling point, stirring all the time.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter cut into cubes, and the bicarbonate of soda.
6. Next stir in the flour gradually until you have a smooth manageable dough – add a little more flour, if you think it needs it.
7. Leave the dough covered, in a cool place to become firm, approximately 30 minutes.
8. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick and cut out the gingerbread men.
9. Arrange them on the lightly greased baking sheets.
10. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the biscuits feel firm when lightly pressed with a fingertip.
11. Leave the biscuits to cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
12. Once cool, store in an airtight container.

Reviews

[Lalaloula]

This recipe truly is outstanding! The dough comes together quickly and easily and is very nice to work with. It makes cutting the cookies really easy.<br/>The spices are well balanced and make for a super yummy gingerbread! I loved the ratio of ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Im sure the orange would have added a nice fruity touch, but I had to leave it out due to an allergy.<br/>THANK YOU SO MUCH for sharing this lovely recipe with us, Aisha! My sis and me had great fun making cookies out of it. :)<br/>Made and reviewed for the Holiday Meals Event in the Photo Forum December 2010 (and for the gingerbread contest).

 

[Chef floWer]

Outstanding! Wonderful method of cooking and wonderful taste. I made this with Little Miss (DD) and she couldn't wait to try them. We have left them plain so the extra icing doesn't alter the taste and it would be easy for Little Miss to have in her lunch box as special treat at school. The ingredients took less then 15 mins to make, however the longest part of this recipe was to allow it to cook down for 30 mins. While it was cooling down Little Miss helped herself to the dough. We made seven huge gingerbread men and 10 mini stars. Thank you Aaliyah&Aaron's mum