In a bowl whisk together the flour, soda, ground all spice, ginger, cinnamon, clove, coffee and salt until there are no lumps
In a mixing bowl, beat the softened butter for roughly a minute until creamy and fluffy using a stand mixer
Add the treacle and brown sugar and beat for roughly 2 minutes until rich and creamy
Add the egg and vanilla and beat again for 2 minutes. The mixture should start to become a little lighter and a bit bouncy
Slowly mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, just using one scoop at a time
Once the flour has been mixed completely in, use your hands to gently knead the dough for roughly 5 minutes adding in some flour if the dough is sticking too much. The treacle does make this dough pretty sticky so don't add too much flour - it's okay to have a lot of moisture!
Split the dough into 2 discs and cover each with cling film. Refrigerate these for at least 2 hours, or up to 8 hours
Pre heat the oven to 180° Celsius (conventional) or 160° Celsius (fan forced) and line some baking trays with baking paper
Knead the dough lightly and use some of the self raising flour to prepare the dough for rolling. Sprinkle some of the self raising flour over the surface and roll out the disc to at least a thickness of ¼ of an inch, or ¾ of a cm. Use cookie cutters to cut out your desired shapes
Place the cut out shapes on the baking paper and place in the oven. Bake these for 9-12 minutes, rotating the trays half way through baking. Depending on the humidity of the day, your oven, and the thickness of the dough the baking time will vary so pay attention to them and check the cookies at the 9 minute mark. If you prefer a crispy gingerbread cookie, bake them for at least 11 minutes
Serve these cookies after resting them for at least 10 minutes. Some serving ideas include with some hot chocolate or coffee laced with some baileys or Frangelico. Alternatively use the cookies as an additional to a trifle recipe or even cheesecake!
If decorating the cookies, you can use some royal icing in a piping bag to decorate them along with some decorative gems. I like drizzling over white chocolate and adding some gems to the trees and adding some eyes with buttons for the gingerbread men
