Kids in the Kitchen making Ginger Bread Men

Gingerbread Men!

To me the smell of gingerbread men cooking takes me back to my childhood and it is something I now love to do with my own kids too.

I love  GINGER and enjoy the smell of it in the kitchen so much. This is such a fun Kids in the Kitchen recipe, perfect for an indoor activity like on a rainy day or as a cooking learning activity, letting them measure and follow the recipe list, mix and time the cooking. You would be surprised at how much can be learnt during cooking and it is wrapped up in this fun thing to do together with delicious results!

These can be made treat like or healthy, it really is up to you and things like what you want to decorate them with.

Big fan of GINGER? 

Check out our family visit to the amazing Buderim Ginger Factory

And my GLUTEN FREE moorish, macadamia and ginger biscuits

Ingredients

• 125gms of butter, (soft)
• 1 free range egg separated
• 1/2 cup of fine organic brown sugar
• 2 &1/2 cups of organic plain flour ( can use whole meal but makes them a different consistency )
• 1 teaspoon bi carbonate of soda
• 3 teaspoons of fine ground ginger
• tiny pinch cinnamon
• tiny pinch nutmeg ( a little goes a long way! )
• 1/2 cup of golden syrup
• icing mixture
• Gingerbread people shape cutters
• Piping bag

Method:

• Pre heat oven to approximately 160`c fan forced
• Line flat baking trays with sheets of baking paper
• Mix butter, egg yolk, sugar together really well
• Add in the golden syrup and flour, ginger, bi carb, nutmeg, cinnamon and mix together into a soft dough, kneading well until its pliable and has changed in colour.
• Put covered in the fridge for 10 minutes to ‘rest’
• Roll out with a rolling pin on a well floured flat bench, if it’s too sticky you may need to add a little flour to the mixture.
• Cut out shapes and arrange on baking trays
• Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until just browned and remove and gently place on cooling racks.
• Once completely cooled mix some egg white with some icing mixture until it is a thick consistency. Separate and add some food colouring to different amounts if desired.
• Decorate the gingerbread people with the firm icing.
• Allow a couple of minutes to set.

Notes:

• Add smiles, buttons and decorations by attaching choc chips, sultanas, cranberries, smarties, dried apple, dried apricot, carob nibs, organic cacao nibs, stevia chocolate chopped, dairy free chocolate chips, mini m&m’s, sprinkles etc with the icing - whatever you personally would like to use.
• You can make these using hard coconut sugar in place of golden syrup if desired (comes in a log) which you finely grate and I would dissolve in hot water which is a healthy alternative that still gives a caramel like flavour, it is not as sweet so you will need to taste test the mixture and also adjust liquids to get the right consistency, alternatively you could use dark, raw agave or even honey but the flavour will be different.
• Be very careful not to leave them in the oven too long as they will become hard. Remember biscuits continue cooking after they come out of the oven. If your not sure you can always try cooking one or two first before baking the whole batch to get the timing right as all ovens are a little different but 10 minutes is usually just right.
• Be creative with cutters and shapes. You can make people, houses, dogs and cats, shapes, numbers, stars. Great fun to make with kids.

Thanks for reading!

Rebecca xx

Recipes by Rebecca
This recipe and photograph is copyright to Rebecca Mugridge (c)2011 

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