Gingerbread gift tags

• Vegetarian

• Produce

  • 1 tbsp Ginger, ground
  • 20 Strawberry laces

• Refrigerated

  • 1 Egg, medium free-range

• Condiments

  • 50 g Golden syrup
  • 1 Water or runny honey

• Baking & Spices

  • 50 g Muscovado sugar, light
  • 50 g Muscovado sugar, dark
  • 300 g Plain flour
  • 1 tbsp Spice, ground mixed

• Dairy

  • 150 g Butter

• Desserts

  • 50 g Fondant, white

Found on bbc.co.uk

Description

Ingredients

• 50g/1¾oz light muscovado sugar
• 50g/1¾oz dark muscovado sugar
• 50g/1¾oz golden syrup
• 150g/5½oz butter, roughly chopped
• 1 medium free-range egg (at room temperature)
• 300g/10½oz plain flour
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp ground mixed spice
• 50g/1¾oz white fondant
• water or runny honey
• 20 strawberry laces

Directions

• Put both types of sugar, the golden syrup and the butter in a heavy-based saucepan. Set it over a medium heat and warm, stirring occasionally, until the butter has melted and the sugars have dissolved.
• Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and leave to cool for about 5 minutes before beating in the egg. Sift over the flour and then the spices, one at a time, mixing gently after each addition, to make a soft dough.
• Put the dough into a food bag, or wrap in cling film. Chill for several hours, preferably overnight, to firm up – this makes the dough easier to roll out.
• Remove the dough from the fridge 15–30 minutes before rolling it, so it can soften slightly.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.
• Roll out the dough between sheets of baking parchment to the thickness of a £1 coin. If the dough seems very sticky, dust it and the parchment lightly with a little flour. Peel off the top parchment sheet, then using a template or gift tag, cut out your tags with a sharp knife. You could also use a suitably sized cutter-approx 5 x7cm.
• Gather up the dough trimmings and re-roll them between more parchment paper to cut more tags. Lift the tags, on the parchment, on to a baking tray. If necessary, trim off the top corners of each tag with a knife to make the classic tag shape. Create a hole near one end with the end of the drinking straw. If you want to emboss your tags, do it now. Chill for about 15 minutes.
• Bake for 8–12 minutes or until a rich golden-brown. Leave to firm up on the tray, then lift, still on the parchment, on to a wire rack to cool.
• To finish the biscuit tags, roll out the fondant between two pieces of baking parchment to a 2mm thickness. Peel off the top sheet of parchment and use a 1.5cm round piping nozzle or a pen lid to cut out circles. Use a paintbrush to apply a tiny bit of water or runny honey to each biscuit tag around the cut-out hole, to act as glue, then place a circle of fondant on top. Use the drinking straw or the end of the paintbrush to push the fondant through the hole in the biscuit, leaving a white border.
• Leave to set before threading strawberry laces through the holes.