I’d never made gingerbread before these dinosaur cookies. My Christmas baking adventures usually involve uberlicious amounts of chocolate, cream and the rolling of hundreds of cocoa coated truffles. That’s where my expertise lies. So when Andrew wanted gingerbread, I looked at him quizzically and question whether he’d ever made it before. Of course not, but Mum has…..That doesn’t count Andrew.

Here’s my first delve into the world of cut cookies; I’m more of a hand-roller or dough-roll slicer, just in case you were wondering. After a solid-hour tinkering with royal icing and my new icing pipe, we found ourselves very proud of our Christmas-based jurassic adventure (NB. Above picture is a double batch).

125g butter, softened
1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) golden syrup
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 cups (375g) plain flour
1 tbs ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
Smarties or M&M’s, to decorate

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 oven trays with baking paper. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter, sugar and golden syrup together in a medium bowl until pale and creamy. Add the egg yolk and beat until just combined. Add the flour, ginger, cinnamon and cloves and stir with a wooden spoon until almost combined. Use your hands to knead until smooth.

Divide the dough into 2 portions. Roll a portion out on a lightly floured surface to a 5mm-thick disc. Use a 10cm gingerbread man pastry cutter to cut out shapes and place them on the lined tray. Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden. Repeat with remaining dough, rolling and re-rolling any gingerbread dough scraps. Knock out a few dinosaur eggs with the leftovers…

Royal Icing
1 eggwhite, lightly whisked
2 cups (320g) pure icing sugar, sifted

To make the royal icing, place the eggwhite in a small bowl and gradually add the icing sugar, stirring between each addition, until a smooth paste forms. Fit a piping bag with a No. 4 plain nozzle. Spoon the icing into the prepared bag. Pipe icing onto each gingerbread figure and decorate with Smarties, if desired. Set aside for 30 minutes for the icing to set. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.