Sophia’s Gingerbread

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, spices & butter. Pulse the mixture until the butter is cut in (it should be crumbly, a bit like breadcrumbs.)

Add in the sugar, treacle & the egg mixture. The mixture will come together into a medium-firm dough - you may need a little more egg or flour depending on the weather.

Sprinkle a small amount of flour on your worksurface (a clean bench or chopping board are both suitable). Turn out the dough and knead until just smooth. Overworking the dough at this stage can result in a tough or crumbly end result. Regrigerate the dough for at least 1hr, but overnight in the fridge is reccomended for best results.

Once thoroughly chilled, the dough will be very solid. Using a sharp knife, divide the dough into 6 portions and let them soften a bit at room temperature (depending on the weather this may not take very long - we don't want it so warm that the butter is starting to melt.)

Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper to around 3-5mm. You can also flour and roll the dough directly, though we don't want to add in too much excess flour - so the baking paper method is preferred.

Clear a tray sized space in your fridge and line a few baking trays (cookie sheets) with baking/parchment paper. Cut out your shapes, carefully transfer to the lined tray and refrigerate the filled tray for 10-15minutes before baking.

Bake in your preheated oven for 7-12minutes, or until lightly golden and just set. Cookies will firm up slightly as they cool.

Rotate through the cutting, refrigerating and cooking process with the remaining trays and dough.

Once cookies are cooled, decorate & Enjoy!