Gingerbread Man Cream Cookies

To make the cookies: In a medium sized mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Sift in the flour, ginger cordial, molasses and ground spices and mix into a thick dough. You can do this by hand or using a stand mixer with paddle attachment. Transfer the dough into plastic wrap or baking paper and chill in the fridge for at least 40 minutes -1 hour to firm up.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C fan and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Once the dough is chilled and firm to the touch, roll out to approximately 1⁄2 cm thickness on a heavily floured work surface (this prevents the dough from sticking). Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to chomp out the shapes. Place the shapes on the lined baking tray. The cookies won't spread out much so you can put them close together, just give them a little bit of space.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 8-10 minutes until golden brown at the edges. You can even turn the tray half way through to ensure an even baking. Don’t over-bake or the cookies may become quite crisp.

Once baked, remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool slightly on the tray before transferring to a wire rack. Repeat until all the cookies are baked.

For the ginger cream: In a stand mixer fitted with balloon whisk attachment, add in the softened butter and whip until pale and fluffy. You can also do this in a bowl with an electric hand whisk or spatula. Add in the icing sugar, ginger cordial and vanilla. Mix until light and fluffy. It should be smooth and creamy.

Transfer the cream into a piping bag fitted with a medium sized round tip nozzle or snip off the tip.

Pipe buttercream evenly onto half of the cookies, and top each frosted cookie with the remaining cookies to sandwich.

For the royal icing: In a small bowl, add in the icing sugar and add a little bit of chickpea brine (aquafaba) at a time until you have a smooth royal icing. The texture should resemble toothpaste. If it's too runny, add in some more icing sugar.

Transfer into a piping bag and snip off the tip.

Use the royal icing to pipe the gingerbread man decorations, and allow this to set at room temperature for 30 minutes or longer.