Ginger cookie Christmas trees recipe by Annabel Karmel

Sift the flour, salt, ginger and baking powder into a large bowl. Put the butter, sugar and syrup into a pan and heat gently, stirring occasionally until the butter has melted. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

Beat the egg and milk together and stir in the cooled butter and sugar, then pour the contents of the pan into the dry ingredients and stir to form a soft dough. Transfer onto a piece of clingfilm and wrap tightly, then refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour or until firm.

Preheat the oven to 180c / 350f / gas 4. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to around 3 mm thick. Cut out 4 cookies with the largest cutter, then 4 with the next largest and so on. Transfer the cookies to baking sheets, spacing them about 2 ½ cm apart and grouping the larger cookies and smaller cookies together on separate sheets. Re-roll the trimmings and cut more cookies as needed. Chill the cookies for 10 minutes in the freezer, then bake for 8 to 10 minutes for the small cookies and 11 to 12 minutes for the larger ones, until turning darker around the edges. Cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

To assemble the trees make up the royal icing according to the packet instructions. Take 2 of the largest cookies and sandwich them together with a little of the icing, making sure the tips of the stars are slightly askew. Carefully stack the remaining cookies , in descending size, on top of the base, securing in place with icing. Do the same for the second tree. Reserve the smallest stars for the tops of the trees, but leave to dry for one hour before adding the top stars. Stick them together with more icing and drizzle over any remaining icing as decoration. Leave to dry for 5 to 6 hours before serving.