Festive Gingerbread Men

Directions

1. 1
   In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy (use an electric beater to save your poor arms). Add the treacle, vanilla and egg and beat.
2. 2
   In a separate bowl, mix together flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and baking soda. Then, 1/3 at a time, fold the flour mixture into the sugar and butter bowl. At this point the dough should be sticking together nicely and should be fairly easy to manipulate.
3. 3
   Halve the dough and shape each half into a disc and wrap in cling film. Place both halves in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours.
4. 4
   Before removing dough from the fridge, preheat oven to 180° (350°F).
5. 5
   When you remove the dough, place it on a floured surface and roll out until it is roughly 5mm thick. Use gingerbread cookie cutters to cut out gingerbread men. Place on baking trays, around 2 cm apart to make sure they don't touch when they expand a little in the oven.
6. 6
   Bake for 8-10 minutes, until cookies have risen slightly and hardened around the edges, then leave to cool on a cooling rack.
7. 7
   For the icing:
8. 8
   Add water to the icing sugar a little at a time until you've got the right consistency for icing. It should feel fairly stiff when stirring.
9. 9
   Separate the icing sugar into however many colours you are using. Add a couple of drops of food colouring into each and stir in. Add one colour of icing to you piping bag, using a very small round nozzle and start icing! And always remember to wash out your piping bag between colours so that they don't mix.