gingerbread emergency! Can you help please??

[poppyseed]

Hi - DD (6) has her friend round to play this morning and I've promised that they can make gingerbread men. Only problem is I can't find the easy peasy basic recipe that I had on a bit of paper .......bad mummy!

Putting you mumsnetters to the test here as he's coming round at 10am!!

Hope that you can help me....

oh no.............!

Any idea where you got the recipe from originally?

I've got several but not sure just how easy peasy they are

It was in a magazine - being a cheapskate I cut it out and kept it - or so I thought......!!

Hang on I'll look in my many biscuit books. I assume you're after minimal ingredients?

I enjoy baking with the kids, but I always find gingerbread quite messy. Maybe a cop out, but I usually make the dough first myself, then put it in the fridge to chill. Then the kids can enjoy rolling it out and cutting out the gingerbread men, and then decorating them after they are cooked.

Have fun

Oh yes please!
Def no molasses or shortening....!!
Thanks for looking

roisin - that's what I intend to do! Ditto the mess - they only really enjoy the rolling, cutting and decorating anyway don't you think?? or am I being rotten!?

No, you're not being rotten!

My boss can make muffins completely by themselves - getting everything out, weighing/measuring all the ingredients, doing the mixing, and putting it in the oven. That's great - but it's not sticky/messy like gingerbread!

All I have to do is the washing up

Gingerbread Bears

175g/6oz plain flour
1.5ml/1/4teaspoon bicarb soda
pinch of salt
5ml/1tsp ground ginger
5ml/1tsp ground cinnamon
65g/2.5oz unsalted butter (diced)
75g/3oz caster sugar
30ml/2 tbsp maple or golden syrup
1 egg yolk, beaten

Sift flour, bicarb, salt, ginger & cinnamon into a large bowl
Add butter and rub in with your fingers til it looks like breadcrumbs
Stir in sugar, syrup & egg yolk and mix to a firm dough with a wooden spoon.
Wrap dough in cling film and chill for 30 minutes
Preheat oven to 180c/350f/gas 4 and grease 2 large baking sheets
Unwrap dough & roll out onto a floured surface. Cut out shapes and transfer to sheets and bake for 10-15mins til just colouring round edges. Leave on sheets for 3mins then transfer to rack to cool.
Decorate as you like

Personally I reckon you could make a plain basic "cut outable" biscuit dough and just add ginger.

PoppySeed this is the recipe I use with my DS(5), it came with a gigerbread cut out and is called Junior Pastry Chef, so nice and easy:
6oz plain flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp ground ginger
2oz butter
4oz brown sugar
2-3 tbsp golden syrup

Oven temp firly hot, 375F, mark 5, 190C

Sift together flour, salt & ginger.
Cream butter and sugar and add to the dry ingrediants.
Heat golden syrup and add to mixture, stirring until it makes a soft dough - you may not need all of it!
Roll out and cut.
Place on greased tray and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Yummy! Have fun!

Excellent!
Thanks to you both - I'll get busy now!!
I'll save you both one

Might even treat DSs to a spot of baking too. Sometimes I even let them stir the mixture

at SoupDragon

We've got our nephew coming round today, and I was thinking about making some here too!

But first I need to go and bribe/threaten the boys to help me tidy the playroom!

they were absolutely gorgeous............two happy 6 year olds and the morning a total success!
Thanks very much.