Speculoos Gingerbread Men
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Preparation time: 30 minutes plus resting time (between 1 hour or overnight)
Cooking time: 30 minutes
- 113g/1 stick browned butter*
- 220g/7.77ozs brown sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla bean extract
- 250g/8.83ozs. bread flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Pinch of white pepper
To decorate:
- 1 egg white
- 150g/5ozs. sifted icing sugar
- Green food colouring
- Licorice allsorts, cut into thirds
- m&m's
Browning the butter. Simply place butter in a saucepan and heat on medium heat until bubbly and nutty smelling. I always keep a supply of browned butter in the fridge around Christmas time.
Step 1 - Beat the butter and sugar together until paler and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat for 1 minute. Whisk the dry ingredients (flour, bicarb, spices,salt and pepper) together in a jug or bowl and then add to the butter mix and mix in on low speed.
Step 2 - Roll out between two sheets of baking paper and cut out gingerbread shapes. At this point you can rest this overnight in the fridge to allow the spices to infuse the dough. Then the next day place the cookies on a tray in the fridge for 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 190C/380F and bake an inch apart for 15-18 minutes or until done. Cool completely.
Step 3 - To decorate mix the egg white and icing sugar with a tablespoon or two of water to create a pipeable icing consistency. Pipe white royal icing for face and arm/leg details and use a little royal icing to adhere the licorice allsorts and m&ms to the cookie. Then colour a little green and make the bow detail.