Gingerbread Man
intro
Crisp, warmly spiced gingerbread men are a beloved festive Christmas treat, perfect for decorating with family, gifting, and enjoying alongside hot cocoa.
Ingredients
Steps
Whisk dry ingredients
In a medium mixing bowl, combine 350g all-purpose flour, 2 tbsp ground ginger, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves, and ¼ tsp fine salt. Whisk vigorously for 30 seconds until evenly combined, with no clumps of spice remaining. Set the bowl aside.
Cream butter and sugar
In a large stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat 113g softened unsalted butter and 150g packed light brown sugar on medium speed (speed 4 on most consumer stand mixers) for 2 minutes until light, fluffy, and pale tan. Reduce speed to low, slowly pour in 120ml molasses, 1 room-temperature large egg, and 1 tsp vanilla extract, beating for 1 additional minute until fully smooth, scraping down the bowl sides once halfway through mixing.
Chill gingerbread dough
With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add the dry flour-spice mixture to the wet butter mixture, mixing only until no dry flour streaks remain (about 45 seconds, do not overmix to avoid tough cookies). Divide the dough into two equal 2.5cm (1-inch) thick flat discs, wrap each tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 60 full minutes until firm enough to roll without sticking to the pin or counter.
Roll and cut shapes
Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F) and line two large baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper. Remove one dough disc from the fridge, roll it out on a lightly floured work surface to an even 6mm (¼-inch) thickness. Use a 12cm (5-inch) metal gingerbread man cookie cutter to press out shapes, transferring each cutout to the prepared baking sheet and leaving 2.5cm (1 inch) of space between cookies to allow for slight spread. Gather dough scraps, re-roll, and cut until all dough is used.
Bake cutout cookies
Bake one sheet of cookies at a time on the middle oven rack for 9 to 10 minutes, until the edges are just set and slightly darker than the soft centers. Do not overbake, as cookies will crisp significantly as they cool. Let cookies rest on the hot baking sheet for 5 minutes after removal from the oven, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely to room temperature (about 20 minutes) before decorating.
Decorate gingerbread men
Make decorating icing by stirring 120g sifted powdered sugar and 15ml whole milk together in a small bowl until smooth, with a thick, slow-flowing pipeable consistency; add gel food coloring if desired. Transfer icing to a small piping bag fitted with a 2mm round tip, and pipe faces, buttons, and clothing details onto the fully cooled cookies. Press small candies or sprinkles into the wet icing as desired, then let the icing set for 15 minutes at room temperature before serving or storing.
Tips
2.Adjust icing consistency as needed: if it is too thick to pipe smoothly, stir in ¼ teaspoon of milk at a time; if it runs off the cookie, add 1 extra tablespoon of sifted powdered sugar to thicken it.
3.Store fully set, decorated gingerbread men in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week, or freeze undecorated baked cookies for up to 3 months to prep ahead for holiday gatherings.
OMG these classic gingerbread men are a total hit in our house! I made them last weekend for our neighborhood potluck and people were asking me for the recipe before I even set the platter down. The spice level is perfect – not too gingery that my picky 6 year old turns up his nose, just warm and cozy. The 1 hour chill time is totally worth it, none of my cookies spread or lost their little button details while baking! My kids loved decorating them with royal icing and sprinkles after they cooled. 10/10, adding this to our annual Christmas baking rotation!
Really solid gingerbread recipe! The flavor is amazing, but I will say I struggled a little rolling the dough out after chilling – it was super firm and cracked a bunch when I first tried to roll it. I let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes and it worked fine after that, just wish I’d known that ahead of time! Ended up with a dozen cute little gingerbread men for my office holiday party, they went fast.
Made these for my dorm floor holiday get together and everyone went crazy! I don’t bake super often so I was nervous about the medium difficulty, but the instructions were so easy to follow even I didn’t mess them up. I added a little extra cinnamon because I’m obsessed with cinnamon, and it was chef’s kiss. SO good, will definitely be making these again next year!
I was so worried I wouldn’t find a good gingerbread recipe that worked with my 1:1 gluten free flour blend, but this one did not disappoint! I swapped the all purpose flour for my usual GF blend and added an extra tablespoon of water to account for the extra absorbency, and the cookies came out perfect – no crumbly texture, no weird aftertaste. My whole family (none of whom are GF!) ate half the batch in one sitting.
Eh, these were okay? The flavor was good, but my cookies spread SO much in the oven that all my gingerbread men turned into blobby little shapes, you couldn’t even tell they were people. I followed the chill time exactly, so I’m not sure what I did wrong? Maybe my butter was too soft when I mixed the dough? Probably won’t make again unless I can figure out where I messed up.
Made these with my 7 year old daughter for her Girl Scout cookie exchange and we had a blast. She insisted we add little red hot candy buttons on all the gingerbread men before baking, and it looked so cute. The only note I have is that the 2 hour total time is pretty accurate, so don’t wait till the last minute to make these like I almost did! We ended up staying up a little late to finish decorating, but it was totally worth it for how excited she was.
Game changer for holiday prep! I made the dough last weekend, wrapped it tight in plastic wrap, and kept it in the fridge for 4 days before I had time to bake them, and it worked perfectly! No weird texture, no off flavor, just perfect spicy gingerbread. I baked a big batch and froze half the decorated cookies for my kid’s school Christmas party next week, and they thawed out great too – no soggy icing, no stale taste. This recipe is so forgiving!
These are the best gingerbread cookies I’ve ever made, hands down. I brought them to my annual ugly sweater party last night and I got so many compliments, multiple people said they tasted just like the ones their grandma used to make! I used a little extra fresh grated ginger instead of ground for an extra zing, and it was chef’s kiss. The only thing I’ll do differently next time is double the batch, because they were gone in 15 minutes flat.