Gingerbread Men | Christmas Baking Recipe

I LOVE gingerbread men! Gingerbread, in my opinion, can be eaten all year round, but there is something special about making gingerbread men for Christmas!

Everyone loves a good gingerbread biscuit, and gingerbread men are so much fun to make – especially the decorations! Just let your imagination run wild with these festive Christmas biscuits! Plus, they are a great way to get the kids involved!

A tried and tested recipe…📃

I have made a lot of gingerbread over the years, and I really feel like I have got this recipe down to a tee now!
In my gingerbread men recipe, I opt for a dark soft brown sugar to give the biscuits a darker, richer colour. However, light brown sugar works just as well.
For the spice, I use ground ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and ground cloves to create a lovely, spicy dough.
Depending on how large your cutters are, this recipe will make about 20-30 biscuits.

To decorate, I like to use royal icing, as it is easy to pipe, great for colouring and sets very firmly. That means the decoration won´t get destroyed when you store the gingerbread men in your biscuit tin.
Royal icing is made from combining egg whites with icing sugar. As the egg whites aren´t cooked it´s important to use fresh eggs. Once made, any leftover royal icing can be stored in the fridge for up to a week. Simply put it in the bowl and press a piece of clingfilm over the top. You can find out more in my baking basics posts on Royal Icing!

For more decorating ideas, check out my Iced Christmas Light Cookies, too!

More Christmas Baking Recipes

If you are looking for more Christmas Baking and Biscuit/Cookie recipes, check out some of my other recipes below:

• Vanilla Crescents | “Vanillekipferl”
• Traditional Scottish Shortbread Recipe
• Gingerbread Men
• Hazelnut Shortbread with Dark Chocolate “Haselnussbrot”
• Chocolate Orange Crescents | Schoko Orangen Kipferl
• Coconut Macarons | Kokosmakronen
• Spritzgebäck | German Piped Christmas Biscuits
• German “Baumkuchenspitzen” with Rum
• Salted Peanut and Apricot Florentines
• Christmas Light Cookies
• Coconut Star Christmas Biscuits
• German Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck | Checkerboard and Pinwheel Biscuits
• German Lebkuchen (Elisenlebkuchen) | Traditional German Gingerbread

Gingerbread Men | Christmas Baking Recipe

Recipe

Ingredients (makes 20-30):

FOR THE BISCUIT DOUGH:

• 125g butter, at room temperature
• 110g dark brown sugar
• 60ml golden syrup
• 1 medium egg, yolk only
• 300g plain flour
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp each of cinnamon, ground allspice, ground nutmeg, ground cloves
• 1tsp baking powder

FOR THE ROYAL ICING AND DECORATING:

• 2 medium eggs, whites only
• 1tsp lemon juice
• 400-600g icing sugar
• food colouring, Smarties/M&M, sprinkles, etc. (optional)

YOU WILL ALSO NEED:

• Gingerbread men biscuit/cookie cutters
• Rolling pin
• 2-3 baking trays lined with baking paper
• Piping bags or sturdy freezer bags

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar using an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the golden syrup and mix. Next, add the egg yolk and the ground ginger and whisk.
2. Sieve the dry ingredients into the bowl and fold into the wet mixture until it resembles large crumbs. Finish by working the mixture with your hands until it comes together in a smooth dough.
3. Wrap the gingerbread dough in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 30-40 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 170°C and line some baking sheets with baking paper.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out until it´s about 0.5 cm thick. Keep turning the dough by 90° whilst rolling to prevent it from sticking. Cut out your gingerbread men and lay them onto the prepared baking sheets.
6. Bake the gingerbread men in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Leave the gingerbread to cool on the trays for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. To decorate, make the royal icing. To do so, start by whisking together the egg whites with the lemon juice, using a fork, until frothy. Gradually beat in the icing sugar, a little at a time, until you get a thick, glossy icing (it will take quite a lot of icing sugar!). To pipe, you are aiming for a fairly thick icing, that leaves a trail in the bowl when you lift out the fork.
9. If you like, you can divide the icing into different bowls and add food colouring to the icing. Spoon the icing into piping bags or sturdy freezer bags and cut off a tiny corner at the bottom.
10. The let your imagination run wild to decorate your gingerbread men with the icing and sprinkles!