Tom's Biscuit Dinosaurs

Some time ago I was given a three-piece biscuit cutter which supposedly could make a 3D dinosaur! I decided it was sufficiently mad to have a go for the Mad March theme.

I had a look around for something which would be structurally sound and taste nice, and came across a recipe for "Pryanik", which apparently is Russian gingerbread. It turned out quite well, out of the cut pieces we made a few stable dinosaurs:

Plus lots of odds and ends - which we managed to make light work of.

Pryanik

200g Sugar
2 eggs
100g unsalted butter
6-7 tbsp of Honey
1½ tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp Nutmeg
1tsp baking powder
250g plain flour

Heat honey + butter in a pan over a low heat (stir regularly). Whilst it is heating beat the eggs and sugar together. When the honey & butter are melted and just starting to bubble slightly, add the beaten eggs and sugar. Leave on the heat (still stirring) until it's pretty hot to the touch, but not sizzling. Then remove from the heat and fold in the dry ingredients bit-by-bit.

Now allow the mixture to cool - I left it over night, but an hour is probably plenty. Roll out to about 5mm thickness and bake at 180°C for 10-12 minutes.

The shapes for the dinosaur had to be quite precise (for biscuit shapes!) to get a structurally sound dinosaur. I got best results from cutting the shapes immediately after taking the biscuits out of the oven, but this leaves lots of odds and ends - so if your shapes aren't so demanding then it's probably easier to cut before baking.