Gingerbread Men (kinda)

This recipe originates from a book from 'Sainsbury's Recipe Library', entitled Healthy Food For Kids and is approximately 3 years older than me (#woh).

I have never understood the choice of this photo as the front cover

It was obviously a great excuse for my Mum to get us doing something hands on, without her putting in that much effort herself and therefore has been well used over the years. 

The success of this recipe is such that the book now falls open at that page with minimal encouragement, bringing with it a delicious waft of ginger and spices.

Here is proof (my gingerbread men never looked like that)

The spices themselves are the only real splurge in this, but if you call them an investment for the future (ginger is great for more oriental recipes and cinnamon is a useful ingredient for any baking) then they definitely prove their worth.

Although, obviously, baking is never guilt-free, gingerbread is definitely one of the healthier options out there. This recipe uses wholemeal flour (i.e. longer lasting energy) and minimal sugar (i.e. less badness in your body) so is a definite win all round.

I've doubled the original recipe as it never seemed to make enough (or my family devoured them before they'd even cooled) so theoretically it should make 24-26 men, however I never actually make men (or women #equalrights) as they're too darn fiddly with our cutters. Whatever cheap cutters you can find (have a look in charity shops) will do just fine, I personally prefer making hearts because I'm loving like that.

Ingredients (makes as many as you possibly can)

250g   plain wholemeal flour
1 tsp   bicarb. of soda
1 tsp   ground cinnamon
2 tsp   ground ginger
50g     margerine
100g   muscovado (or any vaguely brown) sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 large dollop of orange juice (or whatever fruit juice you've got to hand)


Recipe

• In an smallish saucepan (saves washing up) melt together gently the margarine, sugar and honey (keep stirring occasionally as it does).
• Whilst this is all happening, wack the flour in a large bowl and sift in the soda, cinnamon and ginger and mix together with a wooden spoon.
• Once the saucepan mixture is all melted, wait for it to vaguely cool and then bung it in with the flour and add the juice.
• Give it all a good stir with a wooden spoon until it becomes a stiff dough (if it is too sticky add some more flour and if it seems to dry add some more juice).

I apologise for the extremely dodgy shape of my dough 

• Flour your chosen surface, and roll out with a large rolling pin until the dough is a decent centimetre thick (keep it thicker rather than thinner otherwise it is liable to burn).

I'm so impressed by my own photography here it's unreal

• Cut out with whatever cutters you can get your hands on into as many shapes as you can and wack them on a baking tray.
• Make sure they are well spaced out or they tend to merge and lose their shape (if in doubt lay them out on multiple trays and bake consecutively).

The neatest I've ever made

• Bake in an oven preheated to 170 degrees for about 10 minutes (check after 5 min as they cook faster at the back of the oven so you may need to swap the tray around).
• They should be a nice golden brown colour when done, n.b they will not be solid at this point as this only occurs after they have cooled.

• Take them out of the oven when done and leave to set, only once they are solid should you move them to a wire rack to cool.

• This is a really quick and easy recipe to do and will leave your kitchen smelling lush for hours!

Complimentary tune: Return Of The Mack - Mark Morrison one of those tunes for one of those days

Tip of the day: Charity shops are absolute gems for money saving students: affordable, original clothing and for a good cause. Had a great haul looking in them today and so I cannot emphasise enough their brilliance! Make sure you commit to having a look around though, as a half-hearted wander is not enough to find that vintage Topshop jumper you've always wanted.

---C