Back to basics. Honey Gingerbread.

This is a recipe I have used for years.  It makes equally well with regular or gluten free flour.   It is a great one for when you want to make actual gingerbread people or any shape you want to cut out.  

With regular flour you do get a smoother result.   These were Gluten Free and they look a bit more rustic! 

So the recipe is:

90 grams of melted butter.  (3.2 oz). In real life I usually am a bit on the over generous side with this. 

1 cup of honey.

1 cup of dark brown sugar firmly packed.

2 eggs.

1 cup self raising flour.

4 to 5 cups plain flour.

1 teaspoon bi carb soda.

Ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon.  I use a pinch of each because most of the time I am making them for kids.  You can also include much more to your liking and cardamon if you like.

These can also be iced and decorated.  Pretty much every school holidays we made gingerbread people and the girls would decorate them.  It was a challenge to make them look like family and friends and the results were usually hilarious.   So the sky is the limit here.  Baking things to take in the school lunch box was a big help to that first week back.    

Now I make the Grandkids their own little tins of biscuits.   I made the biscuits much smaller for little kids vs man sized for big ones.  

As you add the last cups of flour watch that your mix looks and feels lovely and soft.  You are aiming for a nice playdough consistency that rolls out without being dry.  Because you will need to flour the board and the top of the dough let it be slightly sticky as this will dry it out further.     This is where you go for your own preferences.  If you like crispy biscuits roll it out thinner.  If you like chewy roll it out thicker. 

I always bake on non stick baking paper.    They do increase in size so allow some space between your biscuits.   Bake in a moderate oven... again... go to a very light brown if you like chewy and a bit darker if you like crunchy!   This will be somewhere around 15 minutes.  Let them cool before moving too much as they are quite soft when hot.

My Nana used to bake us biscuits and send them with us on holidays and for school.   Andy's Nan did this also.   They were always in giant glass jars with pale pink icing.  Oh heaven!   

Mum made cup cakes often which I loved.  Also pikelets (mini pancakes) with butter ... so good!

For some reason the gluten free version does not keep fresh as long.   Mum and I both freeze these.  The regular ones keep pretty well.   Biscuits stay fresh in glass or tins where as they go soft and weird in plastic.   Nana knew! 

I hope you enjoy these.  xxx