I love baking gingerbread cookies over the Christmas holidays – I just love the smell of them! These cookies are really easy to make, are dairy-free and egg-free. You could try using gluten-free flour then you’ll have a completely “free-from” cookies. These vegan gingerbread biscuits can be decorated as you like – with icing, chocolate or just dusted with powdered sugar.

What you need:

• 75g dairy free margarine or spread
• 3 Tbsp golden syrup
• 50g light muscovado sugar
• 175g plain flour
• ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger

How to make the gingerbread biscuits:

1. Put the margarine,golden syrup and sugar in  a sauce pan. Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved, then turn off the heat and let it cool.
2. Sift the flour, bicarb and ginger into a mixing bowl and combine. Make a well in the centre and pour in butter mixture.
3. Mix together to form a dough, using a wooden spoon or your hands. Create a ball or disk shape in your palms and wrap this in clingfilm. Chill for 30 mins (or up to 2 days, if you like).
4. Turn your oven on, setting the temperature to 170°C.
5. Put the dough between two sheets of baking paper onto a flat surface and roll it out to 3 mm thickness. Using Christmas cookie cutters stamp out the shapes.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
7. Let them cool on the sheet  then decorate them to your liking.

Tips:

• The cookies will be quite hard because there’s no egg in the dough. Keep them in a tin. They taste better dunked in your favourite hot drink, such as hot chocolate or tea.
• These vegan gingerbread cookies make really good Christmas tree decorations – just make a hole in them with a straw before baking!