FESTIVE GINGERBREAD BISCUITS

Gingerbread biscuits just remind me of Christmas! When the girls were young, they all loved baking and biscuits are just the best fun to make. From mixing and rolling the dough to choosing what shape to cut, we always had a huge selection of cookie cutters of all shapes and sizes which we have collected over the years, and still use.

The brilliant thing about home made biscuits is they just taste better and you can have fun decorating them with icing and faces and patterns.

This recipe makes a small army of delicious festive figures, probably around 50 but they will keep very well and make lovely gifts- everyone loves home made biscuits!

You can easily halve the recipe if you would like to make less.

The dough is very soft and its way easier to work with if you chill it overnight in the fridge, although a few hours will suffice, if you are short of time!

The biscuits are lovely and crisp with a nice gingery flavour so go and get your festive pinny on and have some fun in the kitchen!

Here is the recipe....

Ingredients:

• 3 cups plain flour, preferably organic
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tsp ground mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 6 oz/200 g vegan butter
• 2 tbsp molasses or maple syrup (molasses lends the more traditional flavour)

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well combined.
3. Wrap your dough in cling film and place in the fridge for at least 3 hours, preferably over night.
4. Remove dough from fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Roll out on a floured surface to around 1/4 inch thickness. It doesnt really matter, if your biscuits are thinner, bake for less time, if they are thicker, bake longer. (TIP:I found that cutting the shapes thicker was best, the thinner ones tended to break as I moved them to the baking tray.)
6. Cut your dough into desired shape, I like stars, trees and reindeer along with the more traditional gingerbread man shape. Place on lightly floured baking trays
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on thickness of dough. Allow to cool on the tray; if they are a bit soft you can return to the oven to crisp them up.
8. Enjoy! they will last well in a tupperware, probably for around 10 days though I doubt you will have any left by then! 

                                                  ...your health in your hands...