A flock of bird-shaped gingerbread decorations to bake and decorate.
Makes 20 biscuits
Ingredients
75g Golden syrup
100g Light Muscovado Sugar
2 tsp Ginger (ground)
½ tsp Cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
100g Unsalted butter
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
300g Plain White Flour
¼ tsp salt
Method
Put the golden syrup, sugar, spices and vanilla paste in a pan on a low heat and stir regularly until the sugar has dissolved and everything has combined.
Add butter and stir until it is fully incorporated.
Take off the heat and whisk in bicarbonate of soda, it will puff up and turn paler in colour.
Leave the mixture to cool for a couple of minutes and then add the flour. Mix with a wooden spoon (or if you’re feeling lazy tip the mix into your stand mixture and beat on a low speed) until the mixture comes together and resembles dough.
Turn the mixture out onto a piece of clingfilm and press into a rectangle. Cover with another piece of clingfilm and wrap your dough before putting it in the fridge for at least an 2 hours or overnight.
When you’re ready to bake your birdy biscuits, preheat the oven to 180'c fan.
Dust your surface with a little plain flour and roll out to an even thickness of about 1cm. Place your paper bird template on your dough and carefully cut around it using a sharp knife. Use a skewer to make a hole at least 1cm away from the edge of your bird for your ribbon to go through.
Place your birds on a lined baking sheet at least a couple of centimetres away from each other and bake in the oven for about 12 minutes until they’re golden brown.
Use your skewer to reopen the hole for your ribbon while the biscuits are still hot and then cool on a wire rack.
Decorate with royal icing and any edible Christmassy decorations that take your fancy
