Gingerbread Fun

We are BIG fans of gingerbread (biscuits, cake, you name it) here at Two Cheeky Monkeys and Domum Vindemia HQ, and I have tried many recipes in my quest for the ultimate one.  Today I am sharing a biscuit recipe from my friend's grandma, one which we all love for its texture, taste and flexibility to alterations.  If you make some gingerbread biscuits with this recipe, let me know how you go and what you think of it!

Ingredients

- 60g butter (you can use margerine or a non-dairy substitute here if you like)

- 1/2 cup brown sugar

- 3/4 cup golden syrup

- 2 eggs

- 2 1/2 cups plain flour (all purpose)

- 1/2 cup self-raising flour

- 1 tsp bicarb soda

- 1 tsp mixed spice

- 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 2 tsp ground ginger

Method

1. Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan over low-medium heat.  Let stand for 10 minutes, or until cooled a little.

2. Sift half the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  Add the melted sugar and butter mix and stir to combine.

3. Sift in half the remaining dry ingredients.  Stir thoroughly.

4. Mix in both eggs, stirring thoroughly.

5. Sift in remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

6. Lightly flour a board and knead the gingerbread dough into a ball.  Add a little more flour if the dough is too sticky.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refridgerate for 30 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Roll out the gingerbread dough to 0.5cm to 1cm thickness.  Cut your desired shapes and place onto greased or baking paper-lined trays.

8. Bake gingerbread biscuits for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Place biscuits on cooling racks and try not to eat them all before they cool down!

Notes:

- these biscuits will store well for up to 5 days in a sealed biscuit jar.

- play around with the amount of spices added to suit your tastes.

- you can substitute up to 1 cup of whole wheat or spelt flour for the regular plain flour without any noticeable difference to the final biscuit.

- the very cool cookie moulds for the diamond and atomic particle cookies came from Australian-based totalum!