To make a Lucas Self portrait with fried eggs to go you will need:
50g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
A pinch of salt
115g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
175g light muscovado sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup
1 egg
500g royal icing sugar
Black, blue and yellow food colouring gels or paste
Fried egg sweets
Gingerbread men cutters
To prepare for four copies:
Mix the flour, ginger, cinnamon and salt in a food processor (or by hand). Add the butter and whiz until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, syrup and egg, and whiz to make a smooth dough. You may need to add a splash of water. Transfer onto a clean work surface and knead lightly into a ball, wrap with cling film and chill in the fridge for 30-45 minutes or until firm.
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Line a couple of baking trays with baking paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin until 5mm thick. Cut out four gingerbread people and a rectangle approximately 20cm by 30cm. Transfer to the baking trays.
Cook in the oven for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make up the royal icing sugar with a little water and whisk until you have a smooth paste. Remove half and colour it with the black colouring. Fill a piping bag with the black icing, and one with white icing. Pipe white and black squares onto the gingerbread rectangle in a chequerboard pattern. Leave to set, then fill in the centres to cover the board. Decorate the gingerbread women, using the icing and fried egg sweets.
If you're a fan of Lucas you can also check out her recent foray into furniture design here.
