Gingerbread Family

Don’t just stick to the same pattern of gingerbread men – personalise your family in all shapes and sizes. 

Makes four to six

Ingredients

350g (12oz) plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g (31/2oz) butter, straight from fridge, cut into 1cm cubes
2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
175g (6oz) muscovado sugar 
1 egg
4 tbsp runny honey
Writing icing 
Tiny silver sugar balls

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6. Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda, butter and spices in a bowl and rub the butter into the flour with your thumb and fingers (a perfect job for a six-year-old) until you have a mixture that looks like breadcrumbs. Stir through the sugar. Mix the egg and honey together in a bowl, and pour into the flour and butter. Mix with your hands (a lovely, sticky job) until you have a dough. Shape into two fat sausages and wrap in cling film. Pop into the fridge for an hour to chill. Dust your work surface with flour and roll out one of the sausages to 3mm thick, leaving the other in the fridge until needed. Cut out your gingerbread family and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Repeat with the other dough. Bake for 10 mins or until golden. Cool on a wire rack, before adding faces and outfits with icing and sugar balls or any decorations you like.