One of my favourite things to cook at Christmas time is gingerbread.  To me, a piece of gingerbread and a cup of tea just tastes like Christmas.  It’s a great recipe to try with your friends or family, because everybody can chip in and help with the decorations.

Ingredients

-125g softened butter

– 1/2 cup brown sugar

– 1 egg yolk

– 2 1/2 cups plain flour

– 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

– 3 teaspoons ground ginger

– 1/2 cup golden syrup.

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 160 degrees if you have a fan forced oven

2. Beat the butter, sugar and egg yolk with an electric mixer until smooth.

3. Stir in sifted dry ingredients and syrup

4. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth

5. Roll the dough out until it is 5mm thick.

6. Use cookie cutters to cut out cookie shapes.  I like to make traditional gingerbread men, but you can make any Christmassy shapes you want.  Trees, angels and stars also work well.

7. Place the cookies on an oven tray, with about 4cm between each cookie

8. Bake for 15 minutes.

Once your cookies are cool, you can decorate them with icing, lollies or chocolate buttons.  Store your cookies in an air-tight container.  Alternatively, you can wrap them in cellophane and tie with a ribbon to make a gorgeous gift.