1. Sieve flour and baking powder, keep aside.

2. In a large pan, melt butter, sugar and ginger till blended.

3. Do not allow to come to boil.

4. Keep aside till slightly cooled, mix in flour, to form stiff dough.

5. Form a cylindrical roll, 3" in diameter or thicker if stencils are bigger.

6. Place in cling film or clean polythene bag, refrigerate for 20 minutes.

7. Remove, place on a well dusted (with flour) work surface.

8. Slice into 1/2" rounds.

9. Please on greased baking sheet, keeping some distance among them.

10. Put in central rack of preheated oven at 180C, for 15 minutes or till light golden.

11. Remove, allow to cool a bit, transfer to a mesh to cool completely, before storing.

Christmas Tip:

Use sharp stencils to cut out festive figures like reindeer, stars, santa, etc. from the rounds, before baking the biscuits. Make a hole with a skewer before baking at top end, to enable to hang them on the branches of your Christmas tree. Make half a cup white glace icing by mixing icing sugar in a few spoons of water, till a paste forms. Outline these biscuits, dotting where eyes, etc. should be. Pass a decorative string through hole provided, and hang on Christmas tree as decorations. One may sue cling film to wrap if the weather is such to make the biscuits soggy while hanging.

Making time: 45 minutes
Makes: 23-25 biscuits
Shelflife: 2 weeks or more