A good one for Christmas, this is a mixture of recipes from Annabel Langbein and Nigel Slater.

150g butter, cubed
1/4 c muscovado or brown sugar
3 Tbs golden syrup (or replace 1 Tbs with treacle)
1 egg yolk
1 Tbs ginger, generous
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 c flour (I use spelt)
1 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 1/2 tsp boiling water

Cream the butter, sugar and syrup until pale and fluffy. Lightly mix in egg yolk then add the spices, baking soda and flour. Mix till it forms a dough, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least half an hour. It can keep in the fridge for up to a week, or you can freeze it until you want to bake.
Preheat oven to 160C. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper. Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper to 5mm thickness and make shapes with your cookie cutters of choice until all the dough is used up. You can place close together on the trays, they won't spread much. Bake for 12-15 min, rotating the trays at 8 minutes. Keep an eye and nose on the biscuits, you want a 'baked colour' but they can easily burn.
Leave on the trays for a few minutes to harden, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Annabel uses royal icing but I think the best icing to offset the gingery cookie is Nigel's simple icing sugar and lemon juice mixture and drizzle over. Yummy edible gifts for Christmastime!