Gingerbread Advent calendar

Mother's red book, adapted by Lucian. 10 steps

250g golden syrup	warm until sugar dissolves		leave to cool	Knead until smooth. Leave overnight.	Roll out 5mm thick. Bake in moderately hot oven 10-15 minutes. While still warm, cut gingerbread into shapes.	Stick gingerbread to calendar with icing. Pipe more icing on top, decorate with candy decorations.
150g sugar
100g margarine
500g flour	mix
50g cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs	beat lightly
1 lemon's rind
icing
500g icing sugar		beat
2 egg whites
few drops lemon juice
assorted food colouring		beat in
candy decorations

You should first prepare your calendar. Take a stiff board. Line it with gold paper. Stick on cut-out Christmas cards, arranging them decoratively to form some sort of Christmas scene. Line the whole thing with a sheet of sticky plastic. Make cardboard templates for each of the Christmas card shapes: these are the templates you will use to cut out the gingerbread.

It's better to undercook the gingerbread than to overcook it. Let it keep some moistness.

You may like to make the icing in batches, so that it doesn't set on you.