• Melt the margarine, sugar, and golden syrup together in the saucepan over a very low heat. Stir frequently and don't allow the mix to boil.
  200 grams golden syrup, 100 grams dark brown sugar, 160 grams vegan margarine/butter
• Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon, into the mixing bowl.
  430 grams plain flour, 1 ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, 1 tablespoon ground ginger, 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon salt
• Stir through the salt, and mix everything together.
• Pour and scrape all the liquid mixture into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients.
• Mix it all together into a biscuit dough.
• Place the dough, along with the mixing bowl, into the refrigerator to chill for about an hour.

  [This step can be done a day or so in advance but if storing the dough for more than a few hours then cover the mixing bowl or wrap the dough in food wrap.]
• Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160°C fan / 356°F / Gas mark 4.
• Cover the baking trays with baking paper.
• If using raisins for decoration, chop these into small pieces.
  2 tablespoons raisins
• Halve the dough into 2 pieces as it will be easier to roll out. Keep one half in the chilled mixing bowl.

  Gently knead the dough for about 30 seconds.
• On a lightly floured work surface roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick. Stamp out shapes with cookie or biscuit cutters.

  [thinner cookies will be crispier]
• Place the shapes onto the baking trays and leave about an inch between each biscuit.
• Decorate the biscuits with raisins, such as give the gingerbread figures eyes, noses and little happy smiles. A few raisin buttons are a cute addition. Don't press the raisins into the dough too hard, just place them on gently.
• If preparing gingerbread figures of different sizes then bake the larger ones together and the smaller ones together, so that they bake evenly.
• Bake small-medium sized cookies [about 3-4 inch long and about 2-3 inch at the widest part of the cookie cutter] for about 10 minutes on the middle shelf.

  Bake larger gingerbread figures [about 5 ½-6 inch long and about 4 ½ inch wide] for 12 minutes on the middle oven shelf.
• For smaller or larger cookies just adjust the cooking times, or bake until the gingerbread has coloured and is firm to the touch. Don't press too hard as the cookies will be soft inside.
• If the gingerbread is baked longer it will be more crisp on the outside and if the dough is rolled out thinner they will bake up to a more crisp texture depending on the thinness rolled.
• Once baked leave for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to cool on a cooling rack.

Optional: Decorate

• Once cool the gingerbread can be decorated with a simple water icing [about 100grams [4 oz] of sifted powdered icing sugar mixed with a few teaspoons of water until the consistency is what you like. This icing will set firm.

  The water icing can be prepared quite thick and then added to a piping bag or simply applied with a small teaspoon, knife or even a flat lolly-pop stick.

  Vegan food colours can be used to dye the prepared water icing.

  The icing can be used as a tasty glue to stick on small pieces of vegan candy, sweeties or cake sprinkles, etc.

  Dipping the figures legs into melted chocolate will kit them out with little sweet trousers!