Next weekend, among the things I shall bake — an army of gingerbread men. They are soft soldiers, though. Not hard or ready for combat. Living in Scandinavia, as I do, I know that people really like their traditional pepparkakor/piparkökur – thin, crisp and not unlike a dog biscuit in its crunchy-last-forever qualities. But a thick, soft gingerbread man will get me every time.

Good thing they only happen once a year.