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Fancy a yummy Easter treat? Learn how to make gingerbread cookies and decorate them with some fun decorating ideas.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp of ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 150g butter, at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp golden syrup
• 1 egg

Method

1. Place flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and brown sugar into a bowl and combine with a spoon.
2. Cut the butter up into small pieces and mix into the other dry ingredients with your hands until it resembles the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.
3. Beat the egg and add this along with the golden syrup into the bowl, and using a spoon stir to combine. This should end up like dough, smooth with no cracks. If the mixture is too sticky, just add a little more flour.
4. Place the dough into a clean bowl and place into the fridge for 30 minutes.
5. While the dough is in the fridge, pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper.
6. When the dough is ready, halve the mixture to make it easier to work with and roll into a ball. Place onto a flat surface, lined with baking paper and some flour. Put some flour onto a rolling pin as well to stop it sticking to the dough.
7. Roll the dough out so it is even and not too thick, and using your biscuit cutters press out your shapes. If you don’t have any Easter biscuit cutters, use whatever shapes you have.
8. Gently place the biscuits onto your pre-lined baking tray. Place into your pre-heated oven for 8-10 minutes until golden, making sure they don’t burn.
9. When they are ready, place onto a wire tray and leave to cool before decorating.

Royal Icing

Ingredients

• 1 egg white
• Icing sugar
• Food colouring
• Sprinkles for decoration

Method

1. Whisk the egg white and icing sugar together to form a smooth consistency that you can pipe onto the biscuits.
2. Split the mixture into three and add a different food colouring to each

Note: Test the icing before decorating a biscuit. The icing should hold its shape after being piped. If it starts to run, add some more icing sugar.

Fondant Icing

Using pre-made fondant icing, split into three and add different food colouring to each and roll into balls.

Method

1. Place icing onto a flat surface, lined with baking paper and a small amount of cornflour to prevent it sticking.
2. Roll out icing thinly so it is even and then using the same cookie cutters, cut out the fondant icing. To get the icing to stick to the cookies, use a small amount of icing sugar and water to form a paste. Using a brush, lightly brush one side of the icing and place this side to the cookie.

Note: Use the royal icing to add further decoration to your cookies and also for any sprinkles to stick to.