How to Make Gingerbread Mummies

Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy - you can do this by hand or use an electric mixer. Add in the egg and vanilla and mix to incorporate.

Tip: Add a little black food colouring at this point if you’d like your biscuits to look extra spooky!

Lastly, sift in the flour and cocoa and bring the mixture together to form a soft dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill it in the fridge for at least an hour.

Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and preheat your oven to 170C/375F/Gas 5. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of approximately 5mm.

Use the gingerbread person cutter to cut out as many shapes as you can and then re-roll the scraps to cut out more.

Put the trays back in the fridge for 20 minutes to chill again - this will stop the dough from spreading too much in the oven.

To decorate, decant half a pot of Renshaw royal icing into a bowl and give it a good stir. Adjust the consistency to make a stiff mixture - you may need to add a little extra icing sugar.

Use the icing to attach sugar eyes to all of the biscuits.

Then load up the remaining icing into a piping bag fitted with a small, flat nozzle - I used a petal decorating tip.

Pipe bandages across the biscuit, starting around the eyes and working down the body until the biscuit is completely mummified!