Gingerbread Men (Gluten-, Dairy-, Yeast-, Egg Free)

From now on, I'm going to include a legend in my blog for what each recipe is free from and contains. I think it'll make communicating how dietarily friendly each recipe is for each person's individual needs. Here's what it looks like. This recipe is:

FREE FROM
☑ Soya
☑ Dairy
☑ Egg
☑ Gluten
☑ Yeast

CONTAINS
☒ Nuts (almonds)
☒ Refined sugar products (golden syrup)

Having a friend with a very strict diet has recently brought out my experimental streak for another airing. I missed being this fearless with my cookery!

INGREDIMENTS

For about 20 or so biscuits, depending on size

• 1 ounce (30 grammes) ground almonds
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) cornflour
• 5 ounces (140 grammes) rice flour
• ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) vegetable margarine, at room temperature
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) brown sugar
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) golden syrup, or treacle
• 2 teaspoons of water
• Pinch of salt

For icing:

• 5 ounces (115 grammes) icing sugar, sifted
• Juice of half a lemon, roughly 1½ tablespoons (20 millilitres)

HOW TO

• Preheat your oven to 170°C (325°F, Gas Mk.3, or very moderate). Lightly oil your baking tray(s).
• Sieve the flours, xanthan gum, ground almonds, spices and salt together into a large bowl to mix together consistently; set aside.
• In another bowl, cream the margarine, sugar, and syrup or treacle until pale and fluffy with a wooden spoon, spatula or electric hand mixer. Add the water and beat again until smooth.
• Add in half of the dry ingredients and beat until fully mixed but still soft, then add in the remaining dry ingredients. You might need to use your hands to mix in the remaining dry ingredients.
• Sprinkle the work surface with flour and roll out the dough to your desired thickness. For me, about 1/4 inch (6 millimeters) works well for soft, cakey biscuits, and 1/8 inch (3 millimeters) makes nice crispy biscuits.
• Cut out the biscuits and put on the trays. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until set on the outside and ever so lightly browned around the edges.
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
• Mix the icing sugar and lemon together to get a thick, pipeable icing and decorate as you wish.

And there they are! And they taste and feel pretty much exactly like normal gingerbread... who'd have thought it?