How to Make Gingerbread People

Make the candy canes ahead of time to ensure that they have fully hardened.

Take equal amounts of red and white modelling paste – start with a small ball at a time (approximately 3cm diameter) as the icing dries out very quickly. Knead and warm each colour in your hands to make it soft and pliable. Roll each colour into a long thin sausage and then wrap the 2 colours around each other like a rope.

Lay the twist down on the surface and roll your flat hands over the twist to merge them together into one long sausage. Roll the sausage to the same thickness as a drinking straw. Cut lengths approximately 12cm long and bend the ends to form the candy canes.

Leave overnight on a flat surface to harden.

Top Tip: Make the candy canes well in advance and when hardened, store them in an airtight container until you are ready to use them.

Put the sugar, syrup and butter in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer and bubble for 1-2 minutes, stirring until well combined.

Cool for 10 minutes.

Tip the flour into a large bowl, along with the spices and bicarbonate of soda. Add the cooled syrup mixture and the egg and stir together.

Gently knead the mixture in the bowl until smooth.

Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan/Gas 6. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and lightly flour your work surface. Roll out the dough approximately to the thickness of a £1 coin, and stamp out shapes with the gingerbread cutter.

Transfer the gingerbread shapes to the prepared tins ensuring they are well spaced out.

Take the paper straws and roll a strip of foil around them to cover.

Cut each straw into 3 and lay them across each biscuit. Wrap one arm loosely over the straw.

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through baking.

When the gingerbread starts to brown on the edges, remove the trays from the oven onto a cooling rack. Gently rotate the straws underneath the gingerbread arms to loosen them slightly, but don’t remove them.

Leave the biscuits to cool on the trays for 10 minutes before transferring them onto a rack to cool completely.

Remove the straws when the biscuits are cold.

Decant 3 or 4 tablespoons of royal icing into a piping bag fitted with a small writing nozzle. Pipe eyes and buttons onto the gingerbread shapes and slide a candy cane into position under the arm.

Fix in place with a little royal icing if needed.