Goodies to Gift

Iced Gingerbread Cookies

It’s hard to give the number of cookies this recipe will make, as it depends on what size cutters you use. Mine were assorted and I stamped out 40 by re-rolling all the scraps and doing a second cut.

175 grams butter
¾ cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup golden syrup
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons each ground cinnamon and ginger
½ teaspoon ground allspice
 1 large egg, size 7
3½ cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda

TO FINISH

purchased royal icing gel food colouring

Put the butter, brown sugar, golden syrup, salt and the spices in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved then take off the heat.

Tip into a large bowl and cool. Beat in the egg.

Combine the flour, baking powder and soda together.

Stir into the butter mixture to make a thick, smooth dough.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces and pat each piece into a thick rectangle. Wrap well and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or longer. The dough will be sticky and hard to roll if not thoroughly chilled.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Grease flat baking trays and line with baking paper.

Working with one piece of chilled dough at a time, dust both sides with flour and roll out between 2 large pieces of baking paper to . cm thick. Remove the top sheet of paper and stamp out shapes, cutting them close together.

Remove the excess dough from around each shape and carefully transfer to the baking trays, leaving a little space between each one. If the dough is soft, place the tray in the fridge until firm otherwise they