Gingerbread Men

I love making gingerbread men at Christmas, and so this year worked on a vegan recipe to match the batches I used to make. Success!

Ingredients:

• 300g self raising flour
• 150g brown sugar
• mixed spice
• cinnamon & ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 60ml golden syrup
• 140g butter (plant based. I use flora buttery)

1. Put your flour, sugar, baking powder, and mixed spice into a large bowl and mix.
2. Now add some additional cinnamon or ginger, depending how ginger you want your gingerbread men to be! (haha) But really, I quite often opt for cinnamon if I want a spiced biscuit rather than a strong ginger one.
3. In a pan on low heat, melt the butter and syrup together and take off the heat when fully melted. (Don’t over heat.)
4. Pour the butter and syrup mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients, and combine with a wooden spoon.
5. Once ingredients are combined, ball the mixture up in your hands and wrap in clingfilm. Place in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.
6. Set the oven to 160′ and line baking trays with baking paper.
7. Remove dough from fridge, and ensure work surface and rolling pin are sufficiently floured. Roll out to about 0.5cm thick, cutting shapes into the dough with cookie cutters.
8. Place apart on tray to allow room to expand, and bake for about 5-10 minutes.
9. Once baked, remove from oven and allow to cool slightly for 2 minutes, before using a spatula to scoop them up from tray and onto a cooling rack.