Name: Skeleton gingerbread men
Total time: 1 h
Yield: Makes 30 biscuits
Ingredients: 300g plain flour plus extra for dusting; 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 2 tsp ground ginger; ½ tsp ground cinnamon; 125g butter; 100g soft dark brown or dark muscovado sugar; 2 tbsp golden syrup; 2 tbsp black treacle; 100g royal icing; to decorate black edible food colour pen or black writing icing (optional)

Skeleton gingerbread men placed on a black board

300g plain flour
plus extra for dusting
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
125g butter
100g soft dark brown or dark muscovado sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp black treacle
100g royal icing
to decorate black edible food colour pen or black writing icing
(optional)

Method

step 1
Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Mix the flour, bicarb, ground ginger and ground cinnamon in a bowl.
step 2
Put the butter, sugar, syrup and treacle in a pan and heat gently until melted. Pour into the flour mix and combine to a dough (if it feels too stiff, add a drop of water to help bring it together).
step 3
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured worksurface to about ½cm thick. Cut into biscuits using a gingerbread man cutter, then gather up the off cuts, reroll and keep cutting until you have used up all the dough.
step 4
Lay onto two baking-paper-lined baking sheets and cook for 12-14 minutes until dark golden brown. Cool completely.
step 5
To decorate, put the royal icing in a bowl and mix in enough water (about 1-2 tbsp) until the texture resembles toothpaste.
step 6
Use a piping bag with a very thin nozzle to pipe skeleton outlines on the biscuits. Leave to set, then add faces with an edible food colour pen or writing icing, if you like.
step 7
These will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container. If transporting to a party, put sheets of baking paper between the biscuit layers to keep the icing from being damaged.