If trying to avoid a BNO (Big Night Out) and want to opt for a GNI (Girls Night In) or even a BNI (Boys Night In*) this is the recipe for you. Armed with my new, stylish biscuit cutters I had a pretty wild Saturday night decorating an assortment of gingerbread. A handy tip is to roll out the dough to the size of your baking tray, bake, and then whilst it’s still hot, cut out your shapes. If you cut the dough first and then bake, it tends to expand resulting in shoes looking like they belong to someone with elephantitis.
* On second thoughts, a stiletto cutter might not cut the mustard for a BNI. Maybe opt for a pint glass cutter/naked girl shape to really feel macho….
This recipe is taken from the BBC Food website:
Ingredients:
- 350g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 125g butter
- 175g light soft brown sugar
- 1 free-range egg
- 4 tbsp golden syrup
- 150g icing sugar
- Sweets of your choice (I used M&M’s and jelly tots)
- Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon and tip into the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and blend until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
- Beat th
e egg and golden syrup together, add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. Tip the dough out, knead briefly until smooth, wrap in clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge for 15- 30 minutes. - Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
- Roll the dough out to a 0.5cm/¼in thickness on a lightly floured surface, to the size of your baking tray.
- Place on the baking trays and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown.
- Whilst hot cut out the gingerbread to your desired shape, working quickly before the gingerbread hardens.
- Move to a cooling rack until completely cool.
- Whilst they are cooling, sieve the icing sugar into a bowl. Add a few drops of water and mix until it forms a paste, thick enough to pipe. If wanting a colourful icing add a few drops of food colouring.
- Pour the mixture into a piping bag (a small nozzle is best). Pipe whatever decorations you want onto your gingerbread. Cement the sweets on with your icing.
Directions for use: Get arty and let your inspiration run wild. Who knows, it could be the next Turner Prize….
meekgonewild 