Perfectly imperfect gingerbread creations

These imperfect little beauties are even yummier when you know how much fun has been had making them. The spicy scent encompassing your kitchen when they’re baking is divine. They are a super-quick bake and a real crowd-pleaser. I have served these to friends at coffee-mornings and children at birthday parties, and they always get a thumbs up. The other bonus is that they are perfect at any time of year.

The beauty of this bake is its flexibility in terms of decorating…think little bejewelled stars and trees at Christmas time, pink-iced hearts with sprinkles for Valentine’s Day, or my favourite, simply plain and still a little bit warm from the oven for that mid-week treat. You might want to consider making a double batch, as in my house they get eaten very quickly!

Making them is a lovely activity to do with children and a way of getting young people inspired about cooking. I have many great memories of my children getting involved in baking, but this recipe has to be one of our favourites. It ticks all the boxes for ease, yumminess, and fun, so please give it a try!

Ingredients :

• 225g plain flour, plus extra for rolling out

• a good pinch of salt

• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda *

• 1-2 tsp ground ginger (depending on how gingery you like your biscuits)

• ½ tsp cinnamon

• 50g vegan butter

• 100g soft brown sugar

• 100g golden syrup

*Tip: If like me you often run out of bicarb, you can substitute it with double the amount of baking powder!

To decorate:

• writing icing (optional)

• cake decorations (optional)

Method :

1. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/375F/gas 5.

2. Line a baking tray with baking parchment, or (as I prefer) a reusable tray-liner.

3. Sieve the flour, salt, bicarb, ginger and cinnamon into a large bowl.

4. Heat the butter, sugar and syrup over a medium heat until it takes on a thick syrupy consistency.

5. Leave the mixture to cool for 5 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and stir until it forms a soft dough.

6. Chill the dough for 30 minutes – no need to wrap it, but if you’re concerned about it taking on other fridge flavours, then pop it into a sealed tub first.

7. Lightly dust a clean surface and your rolling pin with flour.

8. Roll out the dough to a 1/2cm thickness.

9. Now here comes the fun bit, and if you have children around, they love to get involved at this point. Use any cutters you have to cut out the dough, carefully lifting the shapes onto your pre-lined baking tray. My favourite tool for lifting is an angled palette knife. Remember to leave space between your shapes for them to spread in the oven.

10. Collect any trimmed bits of dough and repeat the rolling out and cutting.

11. Cook for 10-12 minutes, then remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire-rack. This amount of dough will usually require 2 baking trays. If the gingerbread shapes have varying sizes, which can often occur when children are involved, try and group the same sized shapes per tray. For smaller biscuits 10 minutes baking should be enough, 12 for the larger creations.

12. Once the gingerbread is completely cooled, decorate away with writing icing and any vegan-friendly decorations you like! My children love raisin eyes & pumpkin seed buttons.

13. Enjoy! These treats go perfectly with tea, coffee, even juice. For a variation, it is nice to make super-dainty mini gingerbread biscuits that slip perfectly onto the side of a saucer.