Eggless Gingerbread Men

So last week it was World Book Day and I did a project with the whole school in library lessons last week. I read the gingerbread man to the younger classes and then they decorated gingerbread men and the older ones decorated them as book characters. It was a lot of fun. I had one child who was allergic to eggs so I made some eggless dough, which was just as easy to handle as normal dough and baked the same.

Eggless Gingerbread Men (from Spice Up the Curry)
(Makes 15-18 gingerbread men)

200g plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
90g butter
1 1/2 tsp oil
70g light brown sugar
6 tbsp molasses

Sieve the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, salt and baking powder into a bowl.

Put the butter, oil and light brown sugar into a large bowl and beat with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add the molasses and beat until it is all combined.

Sieve the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, salt and baking powder into the bowl and mix with a spoon to form a dough. Wrap in cling film and put into the fridge for 30 mins.

Remove the dough from the fridge and let it stand for 5 mins, so it softens slightly. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 180C.

Flour a wooden board or work surface and roll out the dough until about 1/2 cm thick. Cut out using a gingerbread man cutter and transfer to the lined baking sheet.

Put the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 10 mins. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray for 5 mins and then transfer to a wire rack. Decorate and eat!