Gingerbread Wedding Favours

Make your own biscuits as wedding favours, then ice with the bride and groom's initials or the wedding date. These would also be ideal for an anniversary party.

My sister and I made these - we are home bakers, not professionals, and our icing skills are dubious! But as you can see we got results that look nice - and taste good - so anyone wanting a DIY wedding could do this. Go for it!

400 g plain flour
3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
180 g soft unsalted butter
125 g caster sugar
1 egg
125 g black treacle
Icing:
1egg White
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
310 g sifted icing sugar
Food colouring

(Bottles of wine optional for the cooks!)

Sift the dry ingredients. Cream the butter and sugar thoroughly, then beat in the egg and the treacle. Beat in the flour mixture a spoonful at a time, until you have a soft dough. Chill for half an hour.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut your shapes out. We made hearts of two sizes, but you could make bride and groom shapes if you have suitable gingerbread man and woman cutters.

Place the biscuits on greased trays and bake at 170 deg/ 150 deg fan/ gas Mark 3 for 10 - 15 minutes until firm to the touch. Cool on the trays for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack until completely cool before decorating.

Beat the icing sugar and lemon juice together with an electric mixer or whisk. Gradually add the icing sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form. Divide icing and colour to taste. We used white, pink and blue icing. Transfer to piping bags and decorate the biscuits. We piped initials and dates on some. On some we piped a line of icing round a biscuit, then filled in the shape with slightly thinned icing.

Leave to dry for a few hours, then package in cellophane bags tied with ribbon. They should keep for a week or more, so you can get organised early.