"Run, run as fast as you can...

...you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

Is there anything more Christmassy than gingerbread? My Pinterest is full of peppermint recipes - is this an American thing? I don't really associate peppermint with Christmas, but gingerbread? Oh yes. Gingerbread can take on many different forms, depending where you're eating it. It can literally be a loaf that you cut into chunks to eat, or it can be thinner and more biscuit like, that break not with a crack but softly. This biscuit type of gingerbread is what we're talking about today, more specifically gingerbread men. The first gingerbread man was attributed to Elizabeth the First, who apparently presented foreign dignitaries with gingerbread men in their likeness. To me this seems like a fantastic way to get foreigners to like you - who doesn't love novelty shaped biscuits?

Over time the biscuits have taken on a more generic "man" shape, but you can really shape them however you want. Recipes also vary, but this is mine.

Gingerbread Men

325g Plain flour

1tsp Bicarbonate of soda

2tsp ground ginger

125g butter

100g brown sugar

4tbsp golden syrup

1. Put the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup in a sauce pan and melt down until it's smooth and shiny.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the pan.

4. Mix until a dough is formed and squash into a ball. It's wonderfully warm and squidgy, and you won't want to stop holding it. But you have to because it's time to roll it out! Cover your surface and your rolling pin in flour, and roll the dough out to just under a cm.

5. Use festive cookie cutters and cut the dough out into any shape you want. If you're artsy you could cut them out free hand, but I am not that creative!

6. Put in an oven preheated to 170°C for about 10 minutes, or until they're golden brown on top. Leave to cool.

7. Ice however you want, preferably in front of Strictly Come Dancing with a mug of hot chocolate. Very festive, very cosy. Try not to eat too many of the biscuits as you ice.