Gingerbread for shapes and houses.

Ingredients:

Gingerbread

100 g Butter
115 g Sugar (ordinary or caster)
230 g Golden syrup (approx 175ml)
1 Tablespoon Ground ginger (more is OK)
1 - 1 1/2 Tablespoons Ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Bi-Carb Soda (less is OK)
500g Plain flour
2 Eggs

Royal Icing

1 Egg white
200g Icing sugar (approximately)

Method:

Gingerbread

Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a double boiler over low heat. Stir Carefully until thoroughly incorporated.
Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
Add the spices and bi-carb into the mix and stir well (make sure it is cool or the bi-carb will fizz up).
With the (sifted) flour in a mixing bowl, form a cavity in the middle of the flour, add the beaten eggs and then the sugar mix. Mix it all together to form a doughy consistency. [I haven't used an electric mixer, but it would probably work using the dough hook attachments and a medium setting]
Add extra flour if the dough is still too sticky inside the bowl.
Remove the dough from the bowl, wrap in plastic wrap and put aside for about 30 minutes.
While the dough is resting, pre-heat the oven, 180C.
On a lightly floured surface roll the dough to about 5-8mm thick, use biscuit cutters for shaped biscuits. Gently place on trays and bake for approximately 20-30 minutes, depending on the size.


Royal Icing

Lightly whisk the egg white in a bowl, slowly whisk in the icing sugar to make a firm peaking icing. (It will look white and glossy).
Cover the surface of the icing with plastic wrap to prevent a crust forming.
Add food colouring as required for icing or can be used as a cement for houses etc.