Devil emoji gingerbread biscuits

Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan160C/Gas 4. Melt the butter, muscovado and syrup in a saucepan – don’t let the mixture boil. Stir together the flour, bicarbonate and ginger. Stir in the hot butter mixture and then add the egg yolk and mix to form a stiff dough.

Cut out your devil emoji template from cereal packet cardboard using the template provided (you can download it by clicking the link above).

Between two sheets of greaseproof paper, the same size as your baking tray, roll out ¼ of the warm dough to be a little thicker than a £1 coin - there’s no need for flour. Using a sharp knife and the template, cut out gingerbread shapes, leaving a gap between them. Carefully lift off the leftover dough between, leaving just the biscuits on the paper. Carefully place the paper on a baking tray. Repeat three more times until you have 12-14 shapes, you can re-knead and re-roll the trimmings to make spares.

Bake 10mins until firm and browning round the edges. Leave to cool and firm up on the baking sheets.

To make the icing, whisk the egg white until frothy then gradually beat in the icing sugar. Beat for a further 2-3 mins until the royal icing is thick and glossy. Cover with cling film until ready to use; the cling film should touch the surface of the icing.

Colour 4tbsp royal icing black. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and use to outline each biscuit. Leave the remaining icing in the bag. Leave biscuits to dry for 15 mins.

Colour ¼ of the remaining royal icing pale purple. Pipe a 3-4cm circle of icing in the centre of each biscuit and leave to dry for 10 mins.

Colour the remaining royal icing darker purple. To make a spreadable icing stir in in 1/4 - 1tsp of water (you may need a little more). Spoon into a piping fitted with a small/medium plain nozzle and pipe the purple icing over any remaining spaces on each biscuit and right up to the black outlines. The icing can be spread into place with the tip of a skewer. Leave to set for 10 mins.

Shape the eyes and mouths out of black icing and lift into place. Add the eyebrows using the remaining black piping icing. Leave biscuits to dry until all icing is fully set.