Last year I commented on Facebook that I wanted to make some gingerbread men, and my friend Caroline very kindly sent me her apparently foolproof recipe.

I made them, and I loved them. So this year I made them again, and thought I’d share the recipe. It really is very easy!

Ingredients:
350g plain flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
2tsp ground ginger
1tsp cinnamon
125g butter
175g light soft brown sugar
1 egg
4tbsp golden syrup
When I made them, I put some mixed spice in too.

All you do is, chuck everything into a bowl and mix it up. See how it’s the best recipe in the world?

The dough eventually comes together and looks like this:

Tip it out of the bowl and roll out onto a floured surface. I find that this dough soaks up tons more flour once you start to work it, so keep a big pot next to you!

Cut the gingerbread into shapes and put on a baking sheet. I’m lazy about washing up (and everything else!) so I line the tray with greaseproof paper.

A word of caution here: spread your gingerbread men out on the sheet, because they expand a lot while cooking – and if you don’t spread them, they’ll come out of the oven holding hands!

Bake at 190 degrees C for 10-15 minutes. Be aware that the gingerbread is still a bit gooey when it comes out of the oven. Don’t leave it in there until it hardens, or nobody will want to eat them!

See how they’ve grown slightly obese during cooking?

Leave them to cool, then decorate as you see fit! I decorated mine using tubes of writing icing and melted chocolate. Yummy!

If you try this recipe, please do post a picture here or on my Facebook so I can see how yours turned out!