Festive Gingerbread Sticks
Gingerbread dough
350g plain flour
1tbsp ground Ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
170g Brown Sugar
180g Butter/Vegan Butter
85g Golden Syrup/Date Syrup
1/2 tsp bicarb of Soda
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Decoration
150g-200g dark chocolate
Sprinkles
Method
Take all your gingerbread dough ingredients and place them into a bowl together. Mix in with a regular metal spoon until it begins to come together. Now use your hands to mix everything in until it forms a dough in your hands. Don’t worry if it’s a little sticky.
Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough onto it. Using your hands, pat the dough into a rectangular shape about 2 inches in height. Take a rolling pin and roll this out gently until the dough is 5mm thick. You can cut the dough in half if your counter space is smaller, and make 2 smaller rectangles. If the dough sticks to the rolling pin, add a sprinkle of flour over the dough.
I find the easiest way to roll this is to start at the end furthest from you, and pull the rolling pin down- barely pushing and letting the weight of the rolling pin do the work. Go back up to the top, and roll down again. You can also place this onto a piece of parchment to make it easier to rotate round.
Don’t worry about it not being an even rectangle, take a knife and cut the edges so they are nice and clean. You want the rectangle’s wide edge to be at 10cm wide. It can be as long as you desire, mine was 2.5x the width, but other times I have made it, it has been less/more depending on how the ingredients felt that day.
Now, take a sharp knife and cut the dough 1/2cm in from the short end (the width) of the rectangle. Scoop this cut off onto a lined baking tray. Now cut further 1cm wide ‘sticks’ and place them beside on the baking tray.
Fill up the baking tray, leaving 1/2cm space in between. (see picture for guidance).
Bake at 350f/185c/gas4 for 10-12 mins until the edges start to brown. Take out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
For decoration, melt the dark chocolate using a double boiler (in a bowl over a pan of boiling water) or in the microwave. For the microwave do a burst of 30 seconds, take out, stir, then back in for 30 seconds, take out, stir. Once it start to melt properly, do 10 second bursts and stir thoroughly between each burst. You want it all to melt, and sometimes the heat from the melted chocolate can melt any pieces that are taking their time, try not to over heat it or it will burn.
Now take your cooled sticks, pick up and either dip, or use a spoon, to lightly coat 3/4 of the stick. You need an edge to hold so don’t coat it all. Now add the sprinkles to the melted chocolate, coating as much as you wish. You can also use colourful sugar for added fun! (To make your own, take 50g of sugar, add food colouring and mix with your hands until coated and the desired shade you want).