feb, 11th - preparations for the party....

day 735:

the weekend was all about prepping for the party on Sunday......

i was trying to come up some Hansel and Gretel inspired activities and besides covering a house in sweets and letting the kids gorge on sugar, it was a struggle. the friendly version of Hansel and Gretel, that we tell Limi, based on the images that are in this book, is that H&G meet an old lady in the forest who asks them to help her bake for a feast.....

so, i decided on some gingerbread men/babies that Limi and co. could decorate. these ones are based on a Delia Smith recipe....it appealed as it doesn't use any raw egg which means that Limi can play eat the dough as we roll and cut the shapes.....and i quite like the idea of treacle in any recipe.....just sounds like it should be delicious.

ingredients:

75g soft brown sugar, sieved

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 tablespoon black treacle

1 level teaspoon cinnamon

1 level teaspoon ginger

95g butter

half teaspoon bicarb

113g wholemeal flour

112g plain flour

preheat oven to 180C

to make:

put the sugar, syrup, treacle, 2 tablespoons of water and spices together in a pan and bring to the boil.

remove pan from the heat and stir in the butter, cut into lumps, and the bicarb.

next stir in the flour gradually until you have a smooth manageable dough - leave it a little moist as it tends to harden when it cools.

next, leave the dough – covered – in a cool place to become firm, approximately 30 minutes. 

then, it's ready to be rolled. on a slightly dusted surface, roll the dough out and cut into shapes. leave it at least 3mm thick to get some softness in the middle.

place on a baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes. leave biscuits to cool on a baking tray and then they're ready for decorating.

makes about 20