Making gingerbread people is the perfect festive bake that’s guaranteed to get you and your loved ones excited for Christmas.
A great gingerbread recipe is an essential possession for any home baker and thankfully Scott, Head Chef at Audley St Elphin’s Park, has shared with us his favourite recipe for gingerbread.
So grab yourself a glass of something festive, pop on some classic Christmas songs and have a go at making yourself some delicious gingerbread people!
Ingredients
- 175g plain flour, plus a little extra for rolling
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 65g unsalted butter
- 90g soft brown sugar
- 1 small free-range egg
- 2 tbsp golden syrup
Method
- Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ground ginger into a food processor.
- Add the butter and blend until the mixture reaches a consistency similar to breadcrumbs, stir in the sugar and mix well.
- Gently beat the egg and the golden syrup together and then add this to the mixture in the food processor, mix until the mixture starts to clump together.
- Take the mixture out of the bowl and knead gently on a lightly floured worksurface, then wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to cool for 20/30 minutes.
- While the dough is cooling in the fridge, preheat your oven to 180C (160C fan) and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Take the dough out of the fridge and lightly flour your work surface, roll the dough out to a thickness of 0.5cm.
- Next is the fun part when you can actually start to make your gingerbread shapes! Use your cutters to create the gingerbread people and place them onto the baking tray. Be sure to leave space between each gingerbread person as they will increase in size during cooking.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Take the gingerbread out of the oven and leave on the tray to cool down for 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Finally, when the gingerbread people have cooled down, you can decorate with writing icing and all of your favourite cake decorations! Popular favourites are smarties, jelly tots, silver balls and edible glitter.
