Gingerbread people

Hi - wanting to make gingerbread people with my class tied into a unit we are doing. Does anybody have a tried and true recipe that is easy to make and tastes great? Also what would we use to attach the eyes, nose, mouth etc. on with. I have never made them. Thank you for any recipes/ tips.

Gingerbread Men

Ingredients
2-2 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp ground ginger
220g firmly packed Soft Brown Sugar
150g butter
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup Icing sugar
Food colouring & lollies to decorate
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Sift flour, baking soda and ginger together and place in a bowl or food processor. Add Soft Brown Sugar or Dark Cane Sugar.

Add butter and rub in with fingertips or pulse in food processor until resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add egg and stir or pulse to mix. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour to the mix and wrap in cling wrap. Refrigerate for half an hour.

Roll out on lightly floured surface or between 2 sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick, using cookie cutters, cut shapes and place on tray. Form leftover dough into a ball and re-roll and repeat cutting out until all the dough is used up.

Bake gingerbread men for 8-10 minutes or until cooked and golden. Remove from oven and cool on baking rack.

Make icing by adding a few drops of food colouring and 1½ tsp water to the icing sugar and drop a small amount under each spot where you wish to place a lolly.

recipe 2
Gingerbread people
125g Butter
2 1/2 Tablespoons Golden Syrup
2 teaspoons ground Ginger
1 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
1/2 cup Sugar
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Egg Yolk
Directions:
1. Melt butter, sugar, and golden syrup in a pot over low to medium heat. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

2. Beat in egg yolk and sift in dry ingredients.

3. Knead and roll out to 1/2cm thick. Use cookie cutter to cut out shapes.

4. Place shapes on baking tray on top of baking paper.

5. Bake at 180 degrees C for about 8 minutes. They are done when the edges are golden brown.

6. Remove from oven and allow to cool on rack before decorating.

To make it really fun for the kids, create several different coloured icings and have a variety of sprinkles, sugar balls and mini M&M's on hand. Use the icing to stick the decorations to the gingerbread.

ICING RECIPE
175g (6 ozs.) Icing Sugar
1 tablespoon Boiling Water
1 tablespoon Butter

Combine water and butter and stir in icing sugar. Divide mixture and add a drop or two of food colouring.
You can make icing bag by placing some of the icing in a small plastic bag (such as a plastic sandwich bag) and cutting a very small hole in one of the bottom corners.

Thank you so much. Is one recipe pretty much the same as the other taste wise? Or is one better in some way?

Use Recipe 2, I used a recipe similar to the top one with a class of kids and the " rubbing the butter into the flour with fingertips" bit took forever! Plus, each child that had a turn had a lot of dough stuck to hands-probably another 5 gingerbread men worth went down the plughole!

Good luck! I always have problems with my cookies. Sticks to something and breaks up usually. Make sure you use baking paper and heaps of flour on every surface.