gingerbread massacre

… last christmas The Viking got very creative with his gift giving and found an adorable, or should that be deplorable set of halloween themed cookies, baking implements and cookbooks and of course i’ve had to wait nearly all year to use them… the first and most intriguing set for me are these very cute ABC Gingerbread Men… ABC, as in Already Been Chewed as each cutter has a limb missing with a clear bite-mark shaped out in the metal… they’re great fun and the premise behind them is that once baked your guests will not touch them because they look as though they’ve already been chewed… I think they look more like gingerbread zombies or that some kind of monster has come along and bitten off limbs… either way I feel they’re perfect for Halloween…

gingerbread massacre
now that the fun is over what you still need is a damn fine gingerbread and this is one of the nicest recipes i’ve found… it’s a classic that calls for molasses which I didn’t have but used golden syrup instead and they came out beautifully… sorry for the cups measurement but the recipe is for those silly americans who don’t have scales…

should make at least 40 regular gingerbread men
3 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg – beaten
1 cup golden syrup or molasses, warmed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoons warm water
1/2 cup margarine

in a large bowl cream the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy then add the baking soda to the molasses and stir in, then add this and all the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and beat in until you form a dough

wrap the dough in film and pop in the fridge for 24 hours

cut out your gingerbread figures and bake on 160C for 10 mins or until they are the colour you like them… decorate to your taste

eat and of course, enjoy!