Easy Homemade Gingerbread Christmas Tree Decorations | A Recipe

I adore gingerbread decorations on the tree at Christmas time. Not only do they look nice and homely and add a homemade touch to your tree but they also fill the room with their festive Christmas scent. As a mum of 3, time has always been something I haven't had much of, especially when the kids were younger and more demanding and I will hold my hands up and say that I normally buy pre-made gingerbread dough. This is absolutely fine if you are pushed for time and gives a really good result but this week I decided to see just how difficult it would be to make my own gingerbread decorations from scratch - it turns out it is actually pretty easy! Here's a recipe:

Ingredients

350g plain flour
100g butter
6 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
175g dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons golden syrup
1 medium egg.

Method 

1- Rub the flour, butter, ginger, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda together in a mixing bowl until they form an even crumb.
2 - Stir in the sugar, golden syrup and egg and knead until a dough has formed.
3 - Pre-heat the oven to 180 C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
4 - Take small balls of gingerbread and roll onto a flat surface with plenty of flour. Use cookie/ gingerbread/ Christmas cutter to cut your shapes and place on your baking tray.
5 - Bake for 10 minutes.
6 - Remove the gingerbread and after 45 seconds - 1 minute, poke a hole in your decoration using a chopstick (or improvise).
7 - Leave to cool on a baking rack.
8 - Thread Christmas ribbon through your gingerbread decorations when cooled (I used a skewer to help push the ribbon through) and decorate with icing if required.

Your gingerbread decorations will look good on your tree for a good 3 - 4 weeks (although I wouldn't advise eating after this time).

Let me know what you think and if you have any homemade decorations planned this year.