Gingerbread Biscuits

With a welcoming cheer to the festive season, I made a batch of gingerbread biscuits, using an old recipe from my scrapbook. I playfully decorated them with lemon icing and colourful embellishments, bought from Wheel & Barrow. Fun and quick to bake, gingerbread biscuits make the perfect Christmas present, wrapped in baking paper and packaged into cute little gift boxes. Merry Early Christmas!

For the biscuits:
-125g butter
- ⅓ cup firmly packed brown sugar
- ½ cup golden syrup
- 3 cups plain flour
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat butter, sugar and syrup in small bowl in microwave on high for about one minute, stirring once, or until mixture is melted and smooth. Cool to room temperature. Sift flour, spices and bicarbonate of soda into a larger bowl, then stir in cooled butter mixture. Add egg and beat with wooden spoon until dough is smooth.

Knead dough lightly on floured surface and roll to 5mm thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes until there is no dough left. Place the shapes onto greased (or non-stick, or lined with baking paper for a healthier option) oven trays and bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes until lightly golden. Use this time to make the icing.

I used angel, candy-cane and heart-shaped cutters

Wiltshire makes these really handy insulated non-stick baking trays that slide right into the oven's grooves (for the racks)

Delicate and golden brown

For the lemon icing:
- 1 egg white, beaten lightly
- 1 ½ cup icing sugar
- 2 tsp plain flour
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- Food colouring

Place egg white in small bowl, stir in half the sifted icing sugar, then stir in the remaining icing sugar, flour and enough juice to make a spreadable icing. Tint with colour.

Once the gingerbread cookies have cooled, decorate with the icing and any other frills you'd like to add - my favourite was the Cookies and Cream sprinkles!

Gingerbread Biscuits with Lemon Icing