Gingerbread men

By chance as I was nibbling away at my morning tea I came across this picture that made me smile.

Not only is this image enough to make me smile on its own, but that's what my little snack happened to consist of... a cup of coffee & a gingerbread man.

These are some of my gingerbread men. Not my best decorating job, but yummy nonetheless :)

If you're looking for a good spicy gingerbread recipe try this one from Greggs:
I'll admit upfront though that I do make a couple of tweaks :)

First I replace a 1/4 of a cup of the golden syrup with molasses, I also add a 1/4 teaspoon of ground chilli powder. Chilli you say? Don't worry it doesn't taste hot, it just seems to bring out the ginger, making it extra zingy :)

Ingredients

• 125g butter
• 3/4 cup golden syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 2 Tbsp Gregg's Ground Ginger
• 3 Tbsp Gregg's Ground Mixed Spice
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 Tbsp milk

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C.

Melt the butter, golden syrup and sugar in a large pot and bring to the boil.  Boil rapidly for several minutes and stir as it boils. 

Sift the flour, Gregg's Ground Ginger and Gregg's Ground Mixed Spice into a large bowl.  Pour melted butter mix into the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

Mix baking soda and milk in a cup and pour into the dough, stirring until it is well combined.  Rest dough for 5-10 minutes covered in cling film.

Roll out on lightly floured board (2-4 mm thick).  Use cutters to cut various shapes.  Put onto baking paper and bake for 10-15 minutes.  Cool.