Gingerbread Advent Calendar Recipe

Place the butter and sugars into a bowl and cream together. Once smooth, add the golden syrup and egg. Mix together to form a smooth paste. Add in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon. Mix together until a dough is formed – this is easiest to do in a free-standing mixer but you can also mix the dough together by hand. 

Once the dough has formed, knead on a surface lightly dusted with flour until you have a smooth dough. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1 cm; it is easiest to roll your dough between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper.

Using the cutter shape of your choice, you should cut out 24 cookies. (Remember if you want to hang these on the tree, use a straw to cut a hole in the top to thread some string though.) Place your biscuits on 2 trays lined with greaseproof paper, spaced slightly apart and pop in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

5 minutes before baking, pre-heat your oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/ Gas Mark 5. Once chilled place your biscuits in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until they slightly darken in colour- the biscuits will firm up on cooling. If your biscuits have spread a lot during baking, you can trim them when they are fresh out of the oven whilst they are softer. Allow your biscuits to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Once cooled, knead your fondant until pliable, and roll out until it’s the thickness of a £1 coin. Using the cutter you made the biscuits with, cut out the shape. Pop a few small blobs of the glitter icing on top of the biscuit and place the fondant on top.  

 Now it’s time to get creative! Use your Christmas Decorating Icing to write out your 24 days for the Christmas countdown and use them to pipe details and boarders onto the biscuits. Using the sprinkles and chocolatey placements add some more decorations and allow your creativity to flow! Leave your biscuits to set for a few hours before wrapping up.