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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.
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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.
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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.
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4
Before removing dough from the fridge, preheat oven to 180u00b0 (350u00b0F).
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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.
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6
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until cookies have risen slightly and hardened around the edges, then leave to cool on a cooling rack.
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7
For the icing:
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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.
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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.
