Recipe: Gingerbread Men

Happy 1st Of December. If you're wondering why I'm posting on a Saturday, it's because for the month of December I'm going to be doing two posts a day right up until Christmas Eve. Yes you read that right, I had a moment of insanity mid November and I decided to do a new post every day for twenty four days alongside my evening 24 Days Of Beauty series which will be coming back at you at 7.30pm tonight.

Right back onto today's post. Today marks the first day of December and to me that can only mean one thing. It's Christmas! Now I know it's not actually Christmas but for me, the first is when it actually starts to feel like Christmas. There is going to be Christmas songs and movies aplenty for me in the upcoming weeks alongside a dozen Christmassy recipes which I plan on sharing with you. And to kick off the month, I'm going with a Christmas classic of Gingerbread Men. I made these last year but never shared them with you so am so excited to be sharing this with you this year. These are ridiculously easy to make and even the smallest bit when baked makes you feel Christmassy AF!

Ingredients 
- 350g Plain Flour
- 125g Butter, softened
- 175g Soft Light Brown Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 4 Tbsp Golden Syrup
- 1 Tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
- 2 Tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

Method
1- In a bowl sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger. Add the softened butter and rub the mixture between your fingertips until it's looks and feels like breadcrumbs. This may take a while but is worth that bit of extra work.
2- Add the sugar and blend with you fingers, taking care to break down any large lumps of sugar that you may have.
3- In a separate bowl beat together the egg and the golden syrup.
4- Add to your breadcrumb mixture and use your hands to mix. The mixture should begin to form a dough and whilst it's sticky and slightly gross process, it's the best way to create a kneadable and rollable dough.
5- Once you have your dough, knead lightly into a ball, cover in clingfilm and leave in the fridge to chill for fifteen to twenty minutes. This is the part where you can get your cutters ready, make yourself a cuppa or tidy up any untensils you've already used.
6- Pre heat your oven to a 180C. Line several baking trays/sheets with parchment paper. I'd advise keeping spare baking trays and your roll of parchment paper to hand, this recipe can make more than your average amount.
7- Take your now chilled dough out of the fridge and place onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out your dough to a 1/4inch thick. I advise making sure rolling pin is dusted in flour as well as it makes the dough easier to roll out and won't stick or break.
8- Using a gingerbread man cutter; size of your choosing, and cut out as many gingerbread men you can from the dough. Keep rerolling the dough until you can't get any more out. I made thirty six gingerbread men but my cutter was relatively small in size so I got more out of my dough. A larger cutter will obviously make less than that but will still create a fair amount.
9- Place evenly spaced on your prepared baking trays and bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges are slightly golden in colour. Don't worry if the middles still feel slightly soft, they'll soon firm up as the biscuits cool.
10- Leave to cool on the tray for five minutes then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Then all's that left is to enjoy them, preferrably with a cuppa and a Christmas movie.