Ultimate easy gingerbread

My son and I have a sweet tradition of baking these cookies together right before the holiday season kicks in. The amazing scent really captures the spirit of Christmas, and it's our little signal that presents are on the way!

Ingredients

100g salted butter, 3 tbsp golden syrup, 100g brown sugar, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1 tbsp ground ginger, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 225g plain flour,

Directions

Step 1

Heat the butter, syrup and sugar together in a small pan until melted, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool slightly.

Step 2

Mix together the bicarb, ginger, cinnamon and flour in a large bowl. Pour in the buttery syrup mixture and stir to combine, then use your hands to bring together to form a dough. Add up to 1 tbsp of milk to combine if needed. The dough will be soft at this point, but it’ll firm up in the fridge.

Step 3

Put the dough on a sheet of baking parchment, shape into a rectangle, and lay another sheet of parchment on top of it. Roll the dough out to a thickness of ½cm. Transfer to a baking sheet to keep it flat, leaving the parchment in place, then chill in the fridge for 1 hr.

Step 4

Heat the oven to 180C and line a large baking sheet with more baking parchment. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut out shapes using a cookie cutter. We always use 9cm stars, but you can choose any shape.

Step 5

Place the shapes, spread apart, on the lined baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 mins. (Depending on the size of the cutters you use, they might need a few minutes more or less cooking in the oven). Leave to cool completely on the baking sheet.

Step 6

Enjoy:)