Meet my tasty friends, the gingerbreads! Now these friends are wonderful, but tend to be pretty elusive – I only see them one month a year, but their visit is always highly anticipated.

How cute are they?! During the Christmas season these biscuits are a life saver, they provide for impromptu coffee mornings, edible gifts (see below), and hangover aids. Pay particular attention to the latter, the festive season is a pure stamina test (usually a fun one, depending on how many work parties are involved).

The other great thing about this recipe is that you can make the dough in bulk and store it in batches in the freezer. When you need to whip something up quick, these are your guys! Plus the ginger and cinnamon combination fills your kitchen with that Christmas aroma whenever you make these treats.

Ingredients Makes 18

•  250g plain flour
• 2 tsps ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 100g unsalted butter
• 60g dextrose
• 100g rice malt syrup
• 1 egg

Icing

• 150g dextrose
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tbsp warm water

 Method

1. Sift together the flour, spices and baking powder in a large bowl
2. Beat the butter and dextrose together until creamy, then add the egg and syrup and beat for a further few minutes
3. Bring the dough into a ball, then press to form a disk
4. Wrap the dough in clingfim and leave to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes
5. Preheat the oven to 180C and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper
6. Divide the dough in half, and using two pieces of clingfilm, roll the dough within it until 3mm thick. Put each piece of rolled out dough into the freezer for 10 minutes
7. Using your gingerbread man cutter, cut out the shapes and place on the baking trays
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly golden-brown. Leave to finish cooling
9. Whilst waiting for the biscuits to cool, make the icing by whisking all the ingredients together
10. Put the icing into a piping bag and ice the men as desired!