For those chillier days, create this tasty wreath decorated with icing and chocolate.
250g Unsalted Butter
200g Brown Sugar
7tbsp Golden Syrup
600g Plain Flour
2tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
4tsp Ground Ginger
For the decoration:
500g Icing Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Lemon Juice
50g Dark Chocolate, chopped
Red, yellow, and green Food Colourings
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C (fan)/gas mark 7. Line a baking tray with greaseproof/parchment paper in preparation.
Melt the butter, brown sugar, and golden syrup over a gentle heat.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and ground ginger.
Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to form a dough.
Roll out the gingerbread dough to thickness of a €2 euro coin.
Cut a large circle out of the dough using a dinner plate as a template.
Place a cereal bowl in the centre and cut a second circle out of the dough to create the base of the wreath.
Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes before leaving to cool on a wire rack.
Re-roll the remaining dough and cut out an assortment of leaves.
Bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes.
Make the icing by beating the egg white until peaks start to form.
Stir in the icing sugar and lemon juice, adding a little water if the icing seems too thick.
Separate the icing into three bowls and tint with the various food colours.
Dip the leaf cookies into the icing and leave to set.
Melt the dark chocolate in short bursts in the microwave.
Transfer the chocolate to a piping bag, snip off the end with a pair of scissors and pipe leaf motifs on each of the cookies.
Use the remaining melted chocolate to stick the leaf cookies to the wreath base.
Leave to set and store in an airtight container until serving.
