GINGERBREAD STARS

So as it's Christmas, it's the time of year when the presence of gingerbread is rife. As I'd never made or had homemade gingerbread before, I thought I'd give it a go, just in time for Christmas. You could decorate these with icing, or poke holes in them before you cook to use as tress decorations, both of which would look cool, but I've decided to leave mine plain.

Makes: roughly 60 stars of varying sizes

You Will Need:
350g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
125g butter
175g light soft brown sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons golden syrup

How to Make:
1. Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger together in a food processor.
2. Add the butter and mix again.
3. Add the sugar and stir (don't process).
4. Beat the egg and golden syrup together in a bowl.
5. Add to the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. (Pulsing means to process together in short periods repeatedly, rather than all at once).
6. Knead the dough together and wrap in clingfilm.
7. Leave to chill in the fridge for around 20 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
9. Line baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
10. Roll out the dough to around half a cm thick. If the dough is too sticky when rolling it out (like mine was) just knead in a load of flour and it should be okay. You will also need to put flour on the surface and on the rolling pin, so that it doesn't stick to either of them.
11. Cut out your shapes; I decided to make stars and I thought it would be more interesting if I used a variety of sizes, instead of just one cutter.
12. Bake for 12-15 minutes and leave to cool. (I did my first batch for 15 and they were a little crispy so I did them for less time with the second batch, which worked out better).

Rosie