Gingerbread

250g butter or Stork

200g sugar

100g golden syrup

600g plain flour

2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

4 teaspoons ground ginger

1 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 200C/ fan 180C/gas 6

Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan - don’t overheat, you should still be able to stick your finger in it comfortably.

Sift the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl and pour over the melted butter - mix into a stiff paste.

Allow to cool, and roll out to the thickness of two £1 coins.

Cut out the shapes, and place on greaseproof paper on a baking tray.

Bake for 12 minutes.  Allow to cool on a cooling rack, store in a dry place.

(If you don’t like ginger, then just leave it out or use chocolate)

For this house, you'll need:

375g/13oz unsalted butter

300g/10½oz dark muscovado sugar

150g/5½oz golden syrup

900g/2lb plain flour

1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tbsp ground ginger

2 tbsp milk