Day of the Dead Gingerbread Biscuits
2 Reviews
About the bake
Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead is a Mexican celebration. These Day of the Dead gingerbread cookies are a celebration of all the fun and colour of this holiday and taste delicious too. A great bake to make with your children, especially fans of the Coco film.
For a vegan friendly alternative, try our Vegan Gingerbread Dough recipe
Method
Step 1
Melt together the butter, sugar and golden syrup.
Ingredients for this step
- Unsalted butter (softened) (100g)
- Billington's Unrefined Light Muscovado Sugar (50g)
- Silver Spoon Golden Syrup (5 tbsp)
Step 2
In a large bowl mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger. Pour over the wet ingredients and mix to form a soft dough.
Ingredients for this step
- Allinson's Plain White Flour (225g)
- Bicarbonate of soda (1/2 tsp)
- Ground ginger (2 tsp)
Step 3
Bring the dough together in a ball and wrap in cling film. Chill for at least 30 minutes until firm.
Step 4
When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 190°C/170° Fan/ Gas 5 and line 2 or 3 baking sheets with baking parchment.
Step 5
On a floured surface, roll out your dough a quarter at a time (so as not to overwork it) to a thickness of 1/2 cm. Cut out the gingerbread men and bake them for 10-12 minutes until golden.
Step 6
Remove form the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before cooling completely on a rack.
Step 7
When you are ready to decorate, preheat the oven to its lowest setting.
Step 8
Mix the icing sugar with 35ml of the lemon juice until it has the thickness of toothpaste, then add more lemon juice drop by drop until it has a softer, but still firm consistency for piping. This will take about an extra 3-5ml of lemon juice. Reserve the remaining lemon juice for a further step.
Ingredients for this step
- Silver Spoon Icing Sugar (200g)
- Juice of one whole lemon (60ml)
Step 9
Prepare your piping bag with the no 2 nozzle.
Step 10
One by one pipe the body bones of the skeletons, but not the skulls.
Step 11
Place the biscuits back on the trays and place in the low oven for one hour to allow the icing to set completely hard.
Step 12
Put the icing from the piping bag back into the bowl; add more lemon juice until it absorbs a ribbon trail in 10 seconds. This is the "flood" icing consistency for the skulls.
Step 13
Put this icing into another piping bag prepared with the no 4 nozzle. Remove the biscuits from the oven.
Step 14
On the heads of the biscuits, pipe a large blob at the top of the head and a smaller blob below. Work the two blobs together with a cocktail stick to make a skull shape. Start with small blobs as you can always add more.
Step 15
When all the biscuits have skulls, bake again at the lowest oven setting for one hour until the icing is completely hard.
Step 16
Once the icing is very hard you can paint the faces using the icing pens. Allow to dry completely before storing
Ingredients for this step
- Icing pens (Varying colours)
Ingredients
For the Biscuits
- 100gUnsalted butter (softened)
- 50gBillington's Unrefined Light Muscovado Sugar
- 5 tbspSilver Spoon Golden Syrup
- 225gAllinson's Plain White Flour
- 1/2 tspBicarbonate of soda
- 2 tspGround ginger
For the Icing
- 200gSilver Spoon Icing Sugar
- 60mlJuice of one whole lemon
- Varying coloursIcing pens