Mini Gingerbread Houses

Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices in a food mixer and mix until evenly distributed.

Add the butter and mix until you reach a consistency similar to breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar, ensuring that any chunks of sugar are broken up.

In a separate bowl, mix together the egg and golden syrup, then gradually pour in with the other ingredients.

Continue to mix the ingredients until it forms a dough, then remove and knead for a few minutes by hand.

Wrap the ball of dough up in cling film and chill in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

Whilst the dough is chilling draw out a template on paper for your gingerbread house structure. The sides and roof pieces are 3cm H x 4.5cm W and you will need four of these.

The two front and back panels are 3cm H x 4cm W x 3cm for the roof slants.  You will need to create a doorway on these panels where your house will perch on the cup, this should begin 1.5cm in from each side and be 1cm in width and 1.5cm in height.

Cut out your templates and put aside.

Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C, gas mark 4) and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to approximately 0.5cm in thickness. Use your templates to cut out your shapes with a knife.

Place your shapes on the baking trays a good distance apart and place back in the fridge to chill for 10-15 minutes.

Once chilled bake your gingerbread immediately for 10-12 minutes.

Remove your biscuits from the oven and allow to cool. You may need to trim your biscuits back into shape, using your templates, if they have spread a bit in the oven.

Once the biscuits are fully cooled you can begin to piece them together. Fill a piping bag with royal icing and snip a small hole to pipe.

Carefully pipe around the outline of the reverse of your front and back house panels. You will not need to pipe along the bottom as this will be the part that fixes to your mug.

Fix together all of your pieces of the house and hold in position until your icing sets. You can fill out any gaps with more royal icing sugar on the outside if needed as this will look like snow on top of your house.

Pipe decorative features on the roof and front of your houses and add any decorations or edible glitter for a finishing touch. Allow to fully dry before placing on your mugs.