When people come home from abroad, they bring champagne bottles. My man came home with a soy sauce bottle – a low sodium one too, let me add.

Hubby was in Hong Kong this month. So this month’s grocery shopping was done in Hong Kong (after a lot of bugging and begging). The man returned home with different kinds of noodles, sugars, sauces and syrups.

So for once, I was not making substitutions in a recipe. I had soft brown sugar and golden syrup, both of which were needed for this recipe.

My attempt with cut out cookies have been horrible failures till date. I finally end up flattening them between my hands or with a greased glass bottom. So I didn’t have much hope when I started making these cookies, but I was lucky this time!

My mess up was the icing. Instead of adding the liquids drop by drop, I added everything in the beginning and ended up with a runny icing. But then, I don’t think I would have been comfortable if everything turned out perfect! There has to be a mess up somewhere, that’s my signature mark, right :)

These cookies had a great soft crumbly texture. I would have preferred it to be a bit more sweet, but everyone else liked  it the way it was.

These make great gifts. Kids love the shapes and decorations. I know there is a lot of room for improvement in the decoration department :), I am planning to try a hand at these again sometime soon.

For the last week of Blogging Marathon 23, this is my entry under Christmas Specials. Check out the Blogging Marathon  page for more themes and for recipes from other participants.

Recipe Source: The Essential Baking Book

Makes : 16-20 cookies

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour  :     2 1/4 cups
• Butter                        :     125 gm, at room temperature
• SoftBrown Sugar  :     1/3 cup
• Golden Syrup         :      1/4 cup
• Baking powder       :      1/2 tsp
• Baking Soda            :      1 tsp
• Egg                              :      1
• Ground Ginger       :      1 tsp
• Raisins                       :      1 tbsp (for eyes and nose)

Icing:

• Icing sugar, sifted : 1/2 cup
• Lemon juice             : from half a lemon
• Milk/Water              : 1-2 tsp ( or as required)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two baking trays with parchment paper. 
2. Beat the butter, sugar and golden syrup together. Add the egg and beat again till its incorporated.
3. In a big mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and ground ginger. Add this to the butter mix, and bring everything together with lightly floured hands.
4. In a well floured surface, knead the dough for a minute or two till its smooth. Roll this dough in a chopping board, between two parchment papers, to 1/4″ thick. The chopping board makes it easy to carry and store the dough in fridge without the dough folding over. Refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes till its firm. Cut the raisins into very small pieces for eyes and nose. You can also do this with the icing, if you prefer.
5. Take the dough from the fridge and cut with cookie cutters to get the desired shape. Re-roll the remaining dough and cut out shapes again.
6. For gingerbread men, you can use the raisin pieces for eyes and nose. Bake in two batches (or more) for 10 minutes, until lightly browned.
7. Cool completely and decorate with icing.
8. Sift the icing sugar. You will have to add the liquids in teaspoonfuls to get the correct consistency. It should not be runny, but a smooth thick paste. Spoon this into a zip lock cover. Tie the end of the zip lock cover to get a cone shape and cut a small hole for the icing to come out.
9. Do not make the cutting until the biscuits are ready for decoration or they will dry out.

Note: Mine turned out to be runny, since I didnt pay attention while adding the liquid :D. I will be careful next time!

I am sending this recipe to:

• Blogging Marathon, under Christmas Treats
• Merry Christmas Celebrations
• Bake Fest 14
• Favorite Recipes : Xmas Recipes
• Edible Gifts for Christmas
• Christmas recipes