Gingerbread Men! The ultimate Christmas cookie, is it not??
Gingerbread Men
Is it too early to get into Christmas baking? I think not.
And is there any cookie more Christmas-y than Gingerbread Men? I KNOW not! Smells like Christmas, tastes like Christmas, looks like Christmas!
You’ll love these Gingerbread Men. You can actually really taste the ginger and spice flavour. They are lovely and moist inside, and you can make the dough months in advance – super handy to bake up fresh when the necessity arises!
What you need for Gingerbread Men
Here’s what you need to make these little Christmas Gingerbread Men!
Just some notes on a few of the ingredients:
Molasses – Essential for that deep, rich, caramel-like gingerbread flavour! It also helps hold the dough’s shape. Golden syrup makes a great sub, or treacle. Honey will also work, but the cookies will spread out a touch more and not have the same deep flavour (but still very, very good!). Maple syrup is no good, it’s too thin.
Brown sugar – I’ve used ordinary brown sugar here. Light brown sugar results in a slightly lighter colour gingerbread and dark brown sugar can also be used which yields a richer, deeper brown colour. All are tasty!
Softened butter – If you want specifics: 17°C/63°F is ideal. It should be malleable but should not make your fingers shiny with grease when you poke it. Your finger should basically be clean. The texture is important: If it’s too soft, this will compromise your cookie dough!
Large egg – This is an egg that is 55-60g / 2oz, labelled as “large eggs” on the carton (it’s standardised). Make sure it’s at room temperature. Fridge cold eggs won’t blend in well (and also could cool the butter).
Spices:
Ground ginger, of course. We are making GINGERbread men, after all!
Mixed Spice is a store bought blend of spices used holiday dishes that gives Gingerbread Men more layers of flavour. Using just ginger and cinnamon as many recipes do is just too one dimensional! Smells of Christmas, hails from Britain, common in Australia but if you can’t find it where you are, don’t worry – it’s easy to make up your own using standard spices: cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and coriander (in recipe notes, and don’t worry if you’re missing one or two); and
Cloves are optional but add a nice hit of spice and warmth to the dough.
How to make Gingerbread Men
Gingerbread Men are made using a soft, generously-spiced cookie dough. It’s rolled out then a Gingerbread Men cookie cutter is used to cut the shapes out. Of course, it doesn’t have to be a Gingerbread Man – you can make any shape you want!
Making the Gingerbread Cookie Dough
Cream the butter and sugar, then add egg and vanilla. You can use a stand mixer or a handheld beater, as I have done;
Beat in the molasses – it will change the colour to a deep golden brown colour;
Beat in the dry ingredients in 4 equal batches. Adding them gradually helps them incorporate more easily; and
The dough will be soft and sticky – kind of like clay – and should stick together when you press it together.
Cutting Gingerbread Men Shapes
The dough is quite soft and sticky so refrigerate it to firm it up. Do so for at least 2 hours, but you can leave it in the fridge for up to 5 days, or even freeze it for 3 months!
Cut the dough in half so you have one half to work with while you return the other half to the fridge to keep it cold.
Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper / parchment paper;
Cut out Gingerbread Men shapes. My cutter is 11cm/4.5″ long. Press down firmly to cut all the way through so they lift out cleanly (though if you have scrappy edges, you can just tidy them up easily on the baking tray).
Gingerbread Dough Rolling Tips
Gingerbread dough is quite soft and sticky which is what makes the cookies moist instead of dry inside. Refrigeration makes the dough easier to work with. At any point during the roll/cutting process, you can stop and refrigerate it to make it easier to work with (be sure to cover dough with cling wrap).
Rolling out between paper is easiest. Try to minimise use of dusting flour otherwise you will have white dust on the cooked gingerbread.
When rolling, paper on underside tends to wrinkle as dough spreads out (which blemishes dough surface), so flip dough, peel off wrinkled paper then put it back on, smoothing out wrinkles.
Transferring and Baking
Peel off excess dough from around the Gingerbread Men;
Transfer shapes to a baking tray using a palette knife or large kitchen knife. Something long and thin is best to minimise ruining the shape!
Place on a baking paper/parchment-lined tray, adjust the shapes and tidy up the edges if needed (I use a butter knife – just press on the scruffy edges to make them neat); and
Bake for 12 minutes for light golden and mostly soft (though slightly crisp on edges), or 14 minutes for deeper golden and crisp. The gingerbread men will be soft out of the oven but will firm up as they cool. Note however even crisp gingerbread men soften the next day. I’m yet to discover the secret to keep Gingerbread Men crispy (other than using a drier dough but that just makes dry Gingerbread Men!).
Crispy vs Soft?
If you want a softer cookie with the signature golden colour (pictured – my pick!), stick to 12 minutes bake time. For a crispy cookie with more colour, bake 14 minutes. For the latter, the cookies will be soft straight from the oven, but will harden upon cooling. Note however, even crispy cookies go soft the next day. They just won’t stay firm, sadly!
This recipe makes 20 Gingerbread Men using a cutter that’s 11cm / 4.5″ tall. I use 3 baking trays because the flow of this recipe works nicely to fill and bake one tray at a time.
Decorating the Gingerbread Men
The best icing to use to decorating Gingerbread Men is Royal Icing. It’s suitable for piping intricate designs which means it’s perfect for putting smiley faces on our Gingerbread Men, giving them decorative pants / skirts / shorts and gluing on belly buttons etc.
Also, this icing sets hard and so won’t soften the Gingerbread Men.
You can get as fancy as you want with your decorations! The way I’ve piped the icing across the arms and waist in a zig-zag is a pretty classic way of decorating Gingerbread Men.
I use mini M&M’s and silver balls for the buttons.
And yes, I did give him a smiley face. Nobody wants to eat a grumpy Gingerbread Man! 😂 And even through this toughest of years we can all find some reason to smile, right? – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
This goes down as the cutest recipe video I’ve made all year!!!
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Gingerbread Men
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 3 cups flour , plain/all purpose
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp ground ginger
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp mixed spice (Note 1)
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves (Note 2)
Wet Ingredients:
- 85g / 5 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter , softened (Note 3)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar (Note 4 re: light or dark brown)
- 1 large egg , at room temperature (Note 5)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup molasses, light / true (NOT blackstrap)(Note 6)
Instructions
- Whisk Dry Ingredients on one bowl.
- Cream butter & sugar – In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together using a stand mixer or electric beater on speed 7 for 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Egg & vanilla – Add the egg and vanilla, then mix on speed 5 until combined (~30 sec).
- Molasses – Add the molasses, mix for 1 minute using speed 2.
- Gradually add dry ingredients – Add 1/4 of the Dry ingredients, then mix until you can't see flour (start on speed 1 to stop flour flying everywhere!). Repeat until all Dry ingredients are mixed in, then mix for further 15 seconds. Dough should be soft and a bit sticky – see video for texture.
- Refrigerate – Pat dough into a disc shape, wrap in the cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until firm. (Can refrigerate 5 days or freeze 3 months).
- Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C (170°C fan) and set a shelf in the middle. Line 3 x baking trays with parchment/baking paper.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and cut into half. Wrap half and return to the fridge.
- Roll out (Note 7)- Sprinkle a sheet of baking paper very lightly with flour. Place dough on top, sprinkle surface very lightly with flour. Place another sheet of baking paper on top. Roll dough out until 4mm / 1/6" thick using a rolling pin. As you work, flip and if paper is wrinkling, peel it off then put if back on, smoothing out wrinkles.
- Cut out shapes (Note 8) – Use a gingerbread cookie cutter to cut out gingerbread men shapes, firmly pressing to cut all the way through. If the dough sticks to the cutter, dip it into flour.
- Transfer – Use a palette knife (or large knife) to transfer shapes onto baking sheet. Place 6 on the first sheet. Tidy edges if necessary using a butter knife.
- Bake Tray 1 – Bake for 12 minutes (for classic light golden) or 14 minutes (dark golden and crisp). Then remove and cool fully on tray.
- Repeat – Meanwhile, gather scraps of dough, press together then roll out again. If dough is sticky, return to refrigerator and work on the other half of the dough instead. Repeat rolling out and cutting out. You should have 18 to 20 gingerbread men in total (depending on cutter size)
- Trays 2 & 3 – Fill and bake 2nd and 3rd tray with gingerbread men, 6 to 8 on each tray. I find the workflow that works best is baking one tray at a time ie. roll/cut-out/fill/bake one tray while you prepare the next.
- Decorate – Fully cool on trays, then decorate! Use a half batch of this Royal Icing recipe to pipe and stick on decorations (sets hard and doesn't soak into cookies). The recipe makes more than you need, but it's impractical to make less. So freeze leftovers in fully sealed piping bag for future use.
Recipe Notes:
- 1/4 tsp each cinnamon and all spice
- 1/8 tsp each nutmeg, cloves, ginger and coriander
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
You wear an elf hat for a photo, I’ll give you a Gingerbread doughnut …. pretty good deal, if you ask me!
Hi Nagi. I saw that you gave Dozer a Ginerbread doughnut. Just wondering is it the exact same recipe as the men and also could you pls share the iceing recipe. Thank you.
Hi Fiona, the exact same – just used a different cutter. The link to the royal icing is also in the post 🙂 N x
Thank you so much. I just wasn’t sure if dogs could eat all the ingredients in the main recipe.
Do you have any other dog biscuit recipes you could share? I’ve had a look but could only find the cake. My dog loves them.
Thanks again
I do have a recipe – I need to post it! N x
Trying this recipe this weekend! it will be our 55th recipe of yours… ( I save each on myrecipetin!) So firstly, Thankyou!!… I too would also really like the dog biscuit recipe for Christmas gifting for our four legged friends! 🙂
Yes please. That wld be great.
Pléyade in grams
Hi Kathusha, if you click the metric toggle above the ingredients it will convert everything into grams 🙂 N x
I really love your recipe. I’m visiting here everyday. Thank you very much Nagi.
Thanks so much for the awesome feedback Jay!! N x
Dear Nagi I love your recipes!! Do you think I can use this recipe and make a gingerbread house? Will it work?
Hi Avra, gingerbread houses tend to be slightly harder to hold up the house and decorations. You’d be better off using this recipe here: https://promotown.info/gingerbread-box-mason-jars/%3C/a%3E N x
I haven’t tried your gingerbread men cookie recipe yet but I’m going to! Have been looking for a good recipe for them for a long time. Anyway, I was wondering if I could substitute Chinese five spice for that spice mixture that’s in the recipe.
You’ll love it Janice – but no you can’t use five spice it’s completely different to mixed spice (see note 1) N x
Thanks, Nagi! Now I need to get baking!
Hi Nagi. Can’t wait to make these gingerbread men. I’m a little confused. You mention 1 tsp of mixed spice which consists of 1/4 tsp each cinnamon and all spice
1/8 tsp each nutmeg, cloves, ginger and coriander but you have 1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon and
1/4 tsp ground cloves already listed. Does this mean i’m using these spices 2 times ?
Hi Debbie, yes mixed spice is a mix of spices already blended, but if you’re using my substitute, you’ll be using the amount measured in the substitute as well as the other spices already listed. N x
Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. We do not have vanilla essence in canada. Do you think i can use extract and if so how much. I searched online and its very confusing. Thanks again for all your amazing recipes !
me too
I was asking for the salad recipe and I have got lots of Gingerbread men 😳 :))
Sorry Mary! Here it is 🙂 https://promotown.info/vietnamese-chicken-salad/%3C/a%3E N xx
Is this a trick?? I clicked on the link in your e-mail for Vietnamese chicken salad and ended up with gingerbread men!!
Keeping you on your toes Joyce! LOL – nope, just me making a mistake in the email links! Here’s the salad recipe -> https://promotown.info/vietnamese-chicken-salad/%3C/a%3E N xx
had another go. click on ‘vietnamese chicken’, and not ‘recipe’
Sorry Gabrielle!! Put the wrong link in the email 🙂 DUH! Here’s the recipe for the Vietnamese Chicken Salad -> https://promotown.info/vietnamese-chicken-salad/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I was also looking for the Vietnamese chicken salad!
Maybe the Grinch krept in and stole it?! 🙁
Please publish it. TIA
Sorry! I had the wrong link in the email! Here it is – N x https://promotown.info/vietnamese-chicken-salad/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Thanks for the speedy response. I did find it. I now look forward to making and eating it too👍😁
Wondering what the difference is between blackstrap and non blackstrap molasses? Non blackstrap seems hard to find in NZ supermarkets. I noticed in one of your pulled pork recipes, you specifically stated not blackstrap and was just wondering about it?
Hi Emily, the flavour and texture is different with blackstrap molasses – it’s more bitter and not suitable for this recipe. N x
Will these still turn out if I use Nuttelex instead of butter?
No sorry Tania, it will change the consistency of the dough unfortunately. N x
Hi, I just made these with Nuttelex and substituted
the egg for 1/4 cup of apple sauce (for my vegan boy). They came out pretty dam good if I do say so myself.
I refrigerated the mixture overnight and cooked them on 180c for 8 minutes.
Thank you Nagi.
This is my go to website for recipes, have made about 4 or 5 things and all come out so perfectly. These ginger read were no different, the dough felt perfect and the baked cookies taste amazing. Now to go ice them
I’m so glad you love them Kadin, no doubt they won’t last long!! N x
Hi Nagi – has you tried these as drop cookies using a scoop rather than rolling?
Hi Amanda, these cookies need to be rolled out – similarly to a sugar cookie dough. N x
Live in the U.S. and looking forward to making these cookies this year. Never made/used royal icing. Could I get your recipe? Are all royal icings the same??
Hi Sharon – yes you can click the link mentioned and it will take you to my royal icing recipe 🙂 N x
How cute! I always prefer homemade gingerbread men to the store-bought. These cookies came out perfect Nagi.
Homemade is so much better – and the smell of them cooking is just the best! N x
Your commentary and detailed tips make enable me to confidently prepare your excellent recipes. Thank you. And I love the adventures of Dozer.
The flavour of fresh ginger is sooo much better than powdered. What amount of grated ginger do you suggest? Will grated ginger affect the texture significantly?
Hi Geoffrey, thanks so much for the great feedback! Generally yes, fresh spices are great, but when baking cookies, powdered works better 🙂 N x
Thank you.
Can these be frozen? I need to find a way to get 12 different cookies, 4 different slices, and three kinds of tarts made and mailed. So, I need to be able to bake and freeze some of them, until the appropriate time and I don’t want to freeze the wrong ones.
Hi Donna, yes you can freeze these once cooked too! N x
Hi, without wanting to sound too fawning, your recipes are my first point of call when looking – and I recommend your website to others. Question, though, how is your name pronounced phonetically – is it Nah-gi (rhymes with me)? I like to at least get your name right when talking you up!
Cheers!
Hi Judy, thanks so much!! My name is pronounced “Nah-Ghee” 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi,make recipe last year with my grand daughter it’s great and looking forward too do again thank you for shearing and your generosity.
Such a great to thing to bake with the grandchildren – I’m sure they cherish this time with you! N x
Good Morning Nagi (and Dozer). My daughter ordered Mixed Spice for me, we don’t have it in the USA. Loved your Gingerbread video, Tell Dozer He is a Great Elf. 🎄CoCo in California
Aww! What a wonderful daughter you have! It will be worth it, Mixed Spice is what makes these really special 🙂 They have the most incredible flavour that can’t be beat – just using ginger and cinnamon isn’t enough! N x