Gingerbread Biscuits

There is nothing I love more at Christmas than to make little gingerbread cookies. I really enjoy the mix of spices which come through in these little biscuits. This recipe is great as it isn’t too sweet and the biscuits turn out nice and crispy which is ideal with your afternoon tea or coffee. 

Makes approx. 12 large cookies or 30 smaller ones

Ingredients

• 350 g all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 tsp of  ground ginger
• 3 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 40g of unsalted butter
• 60 g of muscovado sugar 
• 2 medium eggs
• 50 g of  molasses
• 1 tsp of vanilla

For the icing:

• 200g icing sugar
• 1 or 2 tsp of milk
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract

1. In a small bowl, combine all the dry ingredients together:  flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon.
2. In a mixer, beat the butter, sugar and the two eggs until combined
3. Add molasses and vanilla and mix further.
4. Progressively add the flour and the remaining ingredients until the wet and dry ingredients have blended nicely. 
5. Take a piece of cling film and spray with a touch of oil to avoid the dough from sticking.
6. Wrap the dough in the cling film and set in the fridge overnight (ideally, but a few hours is fine).
7. The next day, remove the dough from the fridge and preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
8. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
9. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it out with a rolling pin until it is 1cm thick.
10. Cut out biscuits with various cutters! 
11. Place the biscuits on the baking trays, allowing a couple of centimetres between each biscuit. 
12. Bake for 5-7 minutes 
13. Remove the trays from oven and allow the biscuits to cool down until hard.
14. After biscuits are cool you may decorate them any way you like.
15. Mix the icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract, place the lot in a pipping bag and decorate as you wish.