Halloween Rattlin' Bones Gingerbread

Q. what do skeletons say before eating?
A. Bone-Appétit!......

With Halloween just around the corner why not get the children involved in some Halloween fun in the kitchen?! With a little guidance from an adult to assist the children with baking the gingerbreads and then arming them with tubes of readymade white icing and making rattlin' bones gingerbread for that spooktacular night of Hallow’ eve.......... Eat, drink and be scary.....Boooooo.....

Halloween Rattlin' Bones Gingerbread

Makes 12

Ingredients
125g (4½ oz) butter
100g (100g) soft brown sugar
100g (4 oz) golden syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
450g (1 lb) plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
For Decoration
Tubes of readymade white icing or a little Royal icing for piping on to the gingerbread.

*You will need 2 baking sheets lined with non-stick baking paper – a gingerbread cookie cutter or draw a template out of card to cut around the gingerbread dough.*

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.

In a saucepan place the butter, sugar and golden syrup on a gentle heat stirring continually until all the ingredients have melted together. Leave aside to cool.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and spices into a large bowl. Add all the contents from the saucepan into the bowl with the dry ingredients then add the egg and mix until fully combined. You may need to finish mixing the dough by hand by pressing and kneading the mixture together. Flatten the dough into a circle and wrap in cling film and place into the fridge for no more than 30 minutes to chill.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 5mm (¼ in) thickness and cut out the gingerbread shapes. Place onto the prepared baking trays and re-roll the dough and remain to cut out shapes until all the dough is used.

Place into the preheated oven and bake for 10 -15 minutes or until lightly browned. Lift each gingerbread very carefully with a spatula onto a wire rack to fully cool and firm up.

Decorate with writing tubes or royal icing in white to resemble a skeleton frame. Leave the icing to set before eating or packing away in an airtight container.