Soft gingerbread with cream cheese icing

How to do it:

To make the cake batter, put butter, sugar and dark syrup in a large bowl and mix together with a Wilfa Smooth Mix hand mixer for a couple of minutes until the batter takes on a pale color. Add the egg and beat together for a couple of minutes until smooth and combined. Add flour, spices, baking soda and salt, and beat on low speed to a stiff dough. Put the dough in the fridge for at least four hours or until firm. At this point, the dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days before use.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC hot air), and line two baking trays with baking paper.

Roll the dough into balls about the size of a tablespoon. I like to use a small biscuit spoon to divide the dough, and then roll it by hand into nice round balls. Roll the balls in caster sugar and place them on the prepared baking trays.

Bake for 10 minutes until the biscuits are crunchy and flat, but still slightly domed. Remove the biscuits from the oven and leave to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. When the cookies are taken straight out of the oven, they will be very soft, so don't try to move them until 10 minutes have passed. The biscuits flatten a little when they cool, so you get a chewy edge and a soft core. Store in a closed container and keep for 2-3 days.

To make the cream cheese frosting, put the butter in a bowl and stir it soft and creamy with the hand mixer. Add the icing sugar a little at a time and beat on low speed until the icing is smooth. When all the sugar has been mixed in, increase the speed of the mixer and beat for approx. 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, cream cheese and salt, and whisk for a short time until you have a smooth mass.

Spread or pipe the cream cheese frosting on the bottom half of the cookies and combine with another cookie.

Once assembled, the cookies will keep for up to 3 days, but will slowly soften as they sit.