Emily's Christmas Ginger Cookies

Preheat the oven on to 180°C

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, mix the butter and brown sugar together until smooth, next add the golden syrup and the egg yolks and the vanilla extract. Keep mixing until light then set aside. Set aside egg whites in fridge to use for icing.

In another bowl sift the flour, bicarb and spices together and then fold the dry mix with the wet mix. Next then knead into a dough, flatten into two round discs and cover with plastic wrap. Place on the a tray and allow to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or overnight.

Roll out the dough to about 5mm thick using a little extra flour if the dough is a little sticky. Using your favourite Christmas cookie cutters, cut out the cookies and roll out the left over dough to produce more cookies. Repeat until all the cookie dough is finished.

Place cookies on a baking tray with baking paper and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked through then allow to cool on a rack.

To make the icing, mix the icing sugar, egg whites and water together until thick and smooth. Separate into 3 bowls then add 6 drops of colour into each bowl then mix well.

In a plastic ziplock lunch bag add one colour of icing sugar then snip the end to create a small piping bag to decorate the cookies.

Makes 20 to 40 depending on the size of the cutter.