- Makes 12 to 18 biscuits - 45 min -
Made without egg, so the raw mixture can be nibbled at safely by young 'helpers'!
Gather together…
150g plain flour (plus an extra 6 tbsp for rolling out).
1/2 tbsp ground ginger.
1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon.
90g butter, cold and cubed.
50g golden syrup.
Decorate with...
16 tsp icing sugar.
2 tsp cold water.
Handful of currants / chopped raisins.
Red and green food colouring gels applied with a toothpick / skewer, or use mini tubes of coloured icing.
Get cooking…
1. Set out 2 large baking trays and line with greaseproof paper (Lakeland sells a reusable cut-to-size liner) or use the brilliant Eco Living silicone liners.
2. Put the 150g of plain flour, the 1/2 tbsp of ground ginger (yes, a 1/2 tablespoon!) and the 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon (again, yes a 1/2 tablespoon) into a large mixing bowl. Mix.
3. Add the 90g of butter in cubes.
4. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour, to make a breadcrumb consistency, this will take about 5 minutes of rubbing. Or use a handheld stick blender/chopper (after initially rubbing in with your fingertips for 1 minute), which will do the job in only a few seconds.
5. Add the 50g of golden syrup and mix with a dinner knife until big lumps form.
6. Use your hands to gather dough into one big lump and knead well for 1 minute until it is smooth - now it is ready to use. (If you want to use the dough later, put it in a sealed plastic food bag and keep it in the fridge for a maximum of 24 hours. Or freeze it. Return the dough to room temperature before attempting to roll it out - microwave it for a few seconds if you are in a hurry.)
7. When you are ready to cut the biscuit shapes, preheat the oven to 200 C (180 C fan) or gas mark 6.
8. Flour the worksurface and rolling pin with 1 tbsp of flour, gently roll out 1/2 dough to £1 coin thickness (i.e. quite thick). Make sure to lift and turn the dough often so it doesn't get stuck to the surface.
9. Cut out the St George's Day shapes (with a metal cutter or use a hand-drawn cardboard template to guide you when cutting with a sharp knife). We used a rectangular cutter for the flag, a man shape for St George and a Christmas tree cutter (minus the trunk) for the dragon! Repeat the rolling and cutting once more with the remaining 1/2 of the dough.
10. Then gather together the offcuts and re-form into a ball, roll out and cut. This dough stands a lot of re-forming and re-rolling quite happily.
11. Place the raw biscuits on the lined trays.
12. Bake for 7 min and then watch them carefully, checking every minute thereafter, until they start to brown, up to a maximum of 10 minutes in total.
13. Cool on the baking trays for a few minutes, until they harden enough to be moved to wire racks.
14. Once cooled fully, decorate with white icing and add detail with a toothpick /skewer dipped into coloured icing gel (or use mini coloured tubes of icing) and stick on chopped-up currants / raisins for the eyes.
15. Enjoy! These will keep for just a couple of days in an airtight container.
