Gingerbread Men!
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A chewy & crunchy Christmassy biscuit that everyone will love to bake & decorate!
Christmas recipes
I have been asking on my Facebook page recently what sort of Christmas themed recipes everyone wanted and this was 100% one of them – like so many people asked for it, I couldn’t not bake it – GINGERBREAD MEN!
The only other Christmassy biscuits I have on my blog already are my white chocolate & cranberry cookies and my chocolate orange cookies and others – and don’t get me wrong, both of these are delicious – however, they aren’t gingerbread men.
Gingerbread
I have had my troubles with gingerbread over the years strangely enough, even if it seems like one of the most common Christmas bakes.
I have tried other recipes and they have all gone so wrong – spreading so much they form a giant cookie, or being so crunchy I feel like my teeth will break – this recipe though, its the perfect mix of crunchy & chewy, and they don’t spread! The men actually still look like men when they come out of the oven!
But anyway, this recipe honestly is my go-to gingerbread biscuit recipe, I have never failed with it since I developed the recipe and it has been a massive hit with all of my taste testers over time. I find it’s the perfect mix of all things spicy, and the biscuit is both crunchy and chewy at the same time which is what I am after in a gingerbread biscuit.
A classic
Yes, I realise you are supposed to call these gingerbread biscuits, or gingerbread people these days, but I stuck with the classic name. Also, the cookie cutters I have used for years are some my granny had, and the ‘female’ one was lost a long time ago… Needless to say, I could have just bought more, but I wanted to stick to traditions in my festive baking ways.
Other gingerbread recipes
I updated the photos for this post but the recipe has stayed the same. It’s not something I personally want to mess with any time soon! This sorta recipe is the perfect bake to top and decorate the gingerbread drip cake recipe I have, and my Christmas gingerbread cake recipe!
A must try recipe
I get several messages every year about what my favourite gingerbread biscuit recipe is and have I got anything to save the bakers from every other recipe they have tried, and this one is the solution. That is not meant to sound bigheaded in any way, but I honestly have never had any issues with this recipe in the entire time I have baked it.
Tradition
As I write this, its the day before the 30th of November, so all I can think about is how its ‘officially’ the festive season starting tomorrow, and how I can start munching on my advent calendars tomorrow.
Every year, I bake gingerbread men to munch on, and they last a good while as well. One of the best tricks? Making a gingerbread hot chocolate and dunking *several* biscuits into the drink whilst decorating the house.
Gingerbread is one of the simplest, but best festive bakes around. There is the occasional person out there that doesn’t like gingerbread, which is fair enough, but you can easily play around with the levels of spices to suit your personal tastes. I like my biscuits to be really ‘gingery’ but my brother prefers them to have a bit more spice from cinnamon in.
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! Enjoy! X
Gingerbread Men!
Ingredients
- 375 g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 3 tsps ground ginger
- 120 g unsalted butter (cold & cubed)
- 175 g light brown sugar
- 5 tbsps golden syrup
- 1 medium egg
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 190C/180C Fan and line 3-4 baking trays with parchment paper (or do it in two batches if you only have two trays!)
- Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and ginger to a large bowl and add the cold, cubed butter to the bowl
- Rub together with your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs! (Or mix the four ingredients in a food processor till its breadcrumbs!)
- Mix the sugar into the mix and combine, and then add the golden syrup and egg - beat with a spatula/your hands until it is a smooth dough.
- Knead the biscuit dough, and then roll the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.
- Roll it out to 1/2cm thickness and cut out your desired shapes! I did gingerbread men, snowmen, and Christmas trees!
- Place them on the lined baking trays and bake in the oven for 10-11 minutes, cool on a wire rack fully, and then decorate how you please!
Notes
- I like my biscuits very gingery otherwise it just doesn’t float my boat, but feel free to use less! (Or even a different spice – like cinnamon!)
- These biscuits will last for about a week in an airtight container, if they last that long!
- It's best to decorate with things such as sweets, chocolate, or royal icing!
- I don't chill my dough before baking.
- You can add in 1/2tsp of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice if you prefer it spicier!
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J x
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these are the best gingerbread people i have ever tasted! they dont turn into blobs which i find most recipes do!
Jane!! I made these today and they were stunning!! The flavour was amazing and the texture was to die for.
I altered the ingredients (purely because I didn’t have them) and replaced light brown sugar with dark, used fresh ginger and added some cinnamon. Honestly so beautiful. Thank you so much, I can always count on you! ☺️💓
Easy to make and delicious to eat. This recipe made us 24 biscuits that are slightly chewy but also a bit crunchy. Perfect! Will definitely use this recipe again, thanks!
First time making gingerbread and oh how delicious and so easy thank you
Fab recipe, quick and easy and the biscuits keep their shape even without chilling so they actually look like gingerbread men, not gingerbread splodges! Thanks!
Christmas baking with my 11 year old daughter worked perfectly
Making these right now – done the recommended oven temp and obviously pre-heated.. and 10-11 minutes wasn’t enough.. I’ve had to put them in for 4-5 mins longer.
Likely is that they are differently sized, and also ovens can vary so extra time isn’t a problem as long as they’re yummy in the end! x
Hi, can I use black treacle instead of golden syrup as I need to use this up?
Yes! Just makes it a deeper flavour!
Amazing recipe!
I ALWAYS default to finding recipes on your site – thank you for sharing.
I made these for friends… Stuck the gingerbread-men together and iced their names on. They loved them.
Hi Jane. Do you think these would still be as good using dark brown sugar instead. I accidentally bought dark instead of light🙈
Thankyou!
Yeah I think it would be fine! Just a deeper flavour x
Made these today, I have tried others, but this recipe is by far the best, they taste absolutely amazing. Am going to be making more 😊
Just tried these today! Came out great and so easy to make! My mum doesn’t normally like gingerbread men and said these were better than the shop! Up on my Insta page @chaiiwithmee Please check it out there 😊
Such a yummy gingerbread recipe! Probably the best one I’ve used! I did add a bit more ginger into the recipe but that’s just because my family love it quite strong!
Easy recipe and taste delicious!
made a batch of 25 this morning! they tasted great and will definitely be making again.
Hey! Would this recipe make enough gingerbread for a gingerbread house? Or would I need to increase the ingredient quantities? x
It depends on the size of the gingerbread house you want to make.. this makes quite a few biscuits, but it depends how large the pieces will be!