Method

• 1.
  Preheat oven to 180°C. Place butter, sugar and golden syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring, until butter melts, sugar dissolves and mixture is smooth. Sift flour, spices and baking powder into a large bowl, stir through 1 tsp fine salt and make a well. Add butter mixture and stir until a smooth dough forms. Form into a disc, wrap and chill for 30 minutes until firm but rollable.
• 2.
  Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a 5mm-thick rectangle. Transfer to a sheet of baking paper. Trim dough to a 25cm x 35cm rectangle then transfer, on baking paper, to a baking tray. Re-roll scraps and cut out shapes using snowflake or star cookie cutters, then place on a second lined baking tray.
• 3.
  Bake snowflake cookies for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove and cool completely on tray.
• 4.
  Meanwhile, using the same cookie cutters, cut shapes into dough rectangle, making sure to cut all the way through the dough, but don’t remove the shapes. (We made 5 snowflakes of varying sizes, and a 2cm round for the ribbon hole.) Allow at least 1cm between shapes. Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges start to brown, then remove from oven and carefully use the same cookie cutters to press into dough again, using the original score lines as a guide, to firmly cut all the way through. Bake for a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove and cool completely on the tray. Remove biscuit shapes from gingerbread and set aside.
• 5.
  Lightly dust a clean work surface with cornflour. Roll fondant out to a rectangle slightly smaller than the gingerbread rectangle. Brush gingerbread lightly with water. Place fondant directly on top and, using the balls of your fingers, press lightly all over and slightly into the cavities of the cut-out cookie shapes to mark their edges.
• 6.
  Use the same cookie cutters to cut out the fondant, following the original lines of the cookie shapes. Carefully but firmly press down to make a clean cut out of the fondant to remove, then use the tip of a small sharp knife to clean and tidy the edges if needed. Set aside.
• 7.
  For the icing, whisk egg white and lemon juice in a large bowl until foamy. Gradually add icing sugar, stirring until smooth, adding either more icing sugar or more lemon juice if necessary to make a thick paste for piping. Divide mixture in half, placing one half of the icing in a piping bag fitted with a 1mm plain nozzle, and the other half of icing in a piping bag fitted with a small leaf-tip nozzle.
• 8.
  Use the leaf-tip nozzle to pipe around the edges of the gingerbread puzzle and to decorate some of the cookie pieces, then use the plain nozzle to pipe remaining decorations.
• 9.
  Set aside for 1 hour for fondant and icing to set, then dust lightly with icing sugar. Tie a ribbon to the gingerbread puzzle, and wrap to gift or store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.