Sugar and spice cookies

These pretty sugar and spice gingerbread men and heart-shaped cookies make a great Christmas treat. Make them into special but cost-effective gifts for your friends and family.

makes: 20
preparation time:1 hour
cooking time:20 minutes
total time:1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. runny honey
30g unsalted butter
60g light muscovado sugar
250g self-raising flour (to convert plain flour into self-raising flour, add two teaspoons of baking powder to each cup of plain flour)
1 tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
finely grated zest of1 lemon, plus 2-4 tbsp. juice 
60g ground almonds
1 large egg

To decorate:

50g icing sugar, sieved 
silver balls

You will need:

parchment paper and baking sheets
5cm biscuit cutters
small plain piping nozzle
paper piping bag

Preparation:

1.     Put the honey, butter and sugar into a small pan and stir over a low heat until the butter is melted.

2.     Sieve the flour, ginger and cinnamon into a bowl. Add the lemon zest and ground almonds.

3.     Pour the egg, melted mixture and lemon juice into the dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together.

4.     Knead the mixture on a lightly floured surface for a couple of minutes, then wrap in cling film and pop in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up.

5.     Set the oven to Gas Mark 4 or 180°C. Roll out the dough to a 5mm thickness, on a parchment-lined surface, and stamp out the biscuit shapes. You should be able to get about 20. Push the tip of a tiny plain piping nozzle near the top edge of each biscuit, and lift out to make a hole.

6.     Put the biscuits on to parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes until pale golden. Cool on a wire rack.

7.     To decorate: Mix the icing sugar with 4 tsp. hot water, to make a smooth icing. Spoon into a paper piping bag with the nozzle. Pipe icing on the biscuits and decorate with silver balls. Leave to set.

OUR TIP: To give it as a gift thread ribbon through holes in biscuits. Wrap in cellophane. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

spice gingerbread men– fűszeres mézeskalács emberkék
heart-shaped– szív alakú
cost-effective – költséghatékony
runny– folyós
unsalted– nem sózott
baking powder– sütőpor
ground ginger– őrölt gyömbér
ground cinnamon– őrölt fahéj
finely grated– finomra darált
zest of lemon– citromhéj
ground almonds– őrölt mandula
sieved – szitált
biscuit cutter– süti kivágó forma
piping nozzle– habzsák fej
to stamp out– kinyomni, kiszúrni
tip– valaminek a hegye/csúcsa
to lift out– felemelni, kiemelni
hole– lyuk
to store – tárolni
airtight container– légmentes tárolóedény