Makes about 15 medium-sized men

Ingredients:

·  375g plain flour

·  3 tsp ground ginger

·  2 tsp ground cinnamon

·  1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

·  170g unsalted butter

·  165g brown sugar

·  1 tbsp golden syrup or black treacle

·  1 egg

·  1 tsp vanilla extract

·  1 tsp baking powder

·  Icing sugar and water – for decorating

 Method:

1.     First mix all the dry ingredients - flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt - in large bowl and set to one side.

2.     Then whisk the butter and brown sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy.

3.     Next add the golden syrup/treacle, egg and vanilla extract and whisk again thoroughly.

4.     Gradually add in the flour to this mixture until all well combined. It should now be quite a soft dough. Roll it into a large ball or press it into a flat disc and then wrap it tightly in cling film and place it in the fridge for at least 4 hours. The dough must ‘rest’ or you won’t be able to roll it properly and the cookies won’t taste as flavoursome.

5.     When ready to make the cookies, preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.

6.     Take the dough out of the fridge and, on a chopping board that is well dusted in flour (or the cookies will stick!) cut off a section and roll this out until about 1/4-inch thickness.

7.     Then cut into gingerbread men shapes and place these 1-inch apart on baking paper on a flat baking tray. You will probably end up making about 5 or 6 batches of cookies.

8.     Place the cookies in the oven and then bake for about 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and just begin to brown. Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes (remember they harden even more as they cool so if you would like them chewy, bake them for around 8 minutes).

Once cooled completely you can ice them and store then in an airtight container for up to 5 days