Ellis Cameron: New Tricks

I spent this week in a very languid state – that is to say, I didn’t really do all that much and rather enjoyed it.

One thing I DID manage to achieve is creating some rather tasty gingerbread biscuits, as part of a birthday present for a friend, and also as my alternative answer to Easter eggs.

These biscuits also taste very good with tea. N.B. I really am getting good at taking up more and more OAP tendencies, (knitting, crocheting, baking, tea drinking) and I couldn’t be happier.

Gingerbread Men Recipe

Ingredients

340g/12 oz. plain flour

• 1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp. ground ginge
• 100g/ 3.5 oz. butter
• 170g/ 6 oz. sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 tbsp. golden syrup
• Handful of currants.

Method

• Heat the oven to 190°C/ 170°C for fan oven /gas mark 5
• Grease a baking tray with a little butter.
• Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger into a mixing bowl
• Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the bowl; rub in until there are no lumps.
• Stir in the sugar
• Break the egg into a cup and beat with a fork. Add the egg and syrup to the bowl and mix together
• Use your hands to turn the mixture into a soft lump of dough.
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough to approx. ½ cm thick.
• Use a gingerbread man cutter to cut out the gingerbread men, or use your own shapes too. I used a variety of cutters to make stars, gingerbread men, elephants, and teddy bears.
• Press the currants into the dough shapes. I gave the gingerbread men eyes and waist coat buttons, the animals’ eyes and the stars I just placed some currants into the dough. Experiment.
• Bake the gingerbread men for approx. 10 minutes (check at 5 minutes, as the cooking time really depends on your oven; ours were golden brown and ready to go in about 5 minutes).
• Place the gingerbread shapes on a cooling rack.
• Voila.

Ellis Cameron, Young in Argyll correspondent

Photographs by Ellis Cameron.