Annabel Karmel's Gingerbread Stars recipe

Method

• step 1

  Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4

• step 2

  Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and spices into a bowl. Put aside

• step 3

  Heat the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a small pan, stirring frequently, until dissolved. Then allow to cool for a couple of minutes

• step 4

  Stir the syrup mixture and the milk into the dry ingredients. Form into a ball, cover with clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge

• step 5

  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until it's about 3mm thick. Using the cookie cutters, stamp out star shapes. If you want to hang your cookies on your Christmas tree, use a straw to make a hole just above the centre of each one

• step 6

  Place the shapes on 2 lightly greased baking sheets and put them in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Once cooked, leave them for a few minutes to firm up, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely

• step 7

  To make the icing (you can simply buy some white icing pens instead), beat the egg whites with the lemon juice, then add the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small tip and pipe snowflake designs onto the cookies. (If you're using the icing pens, simply squeeze out the icing to decorate the cookies like snowflakes)

• step 8

  Add edible silver balls to the icing as extra decoration – either to highlight the icing patterns or to create extra patterns on top. If you're hanging the cookies, wait till the icing is dry, then thread strips of thin ribbon through each holes and secure each strip in a loop