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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This is my go-to gingerbread recipe now, I’ve made it 3 times in the last couple of months! So tasty. I find it’s easy to adjust how crispy you want them to be by how long you bake them and they’re delicious soft or crispy, with a little chewiness inside. Delicious!
Hi do I need to sieve the flour
I think I rolled it out too thinly as I ended up with at least 50 lol but they came out very well and are delicious 😀
That is what happened to me I ended up with 65!
It’s not a competition guys, I only got 32 😢😢😢
Can the dough be made the night before and refrigerated overnight?
Hiya! Ideally I find it is best not to refrigerate this dough before baking, but it is definitely worth a go! Enjoy! x
How did you find chilling the dough please?
I like the dough but ideally would like to freeze or chill half for another time.
Love this recipe! First time I made gingerbread and love that their is no chill time required. had to bake in 2 lots and found that 10 mins was more than enough bake time. Would add some more spice but as it was my first time making followed the recipe to a tee and came out wonderful, definitely using this one again :D. Thanks so much!!!
Hi Jane! Can these cookies be frozen?
Many thanks.
Yes absolutely, you can freeze these for up to 3 months! Enjoy! x
Hi Jane, can you freeze the cookie dough or is it best frozen once baked? Thanks x
Also, Made these recently with my 7 year old and 5 year old, clear instructions for them to follow and tasted amazing!! Ae love your bakes and your cookbook is always the one we go to for baking! X
HIya! I would personally freeze the baked men. Thank you so much im so happy to hear that! Enjoy! x
Hi Jane. Do you think this recipe would work for a gingerbread house?
Hi, what can I replace the egg with in this recipe to make it vegan?
Hiya! You could try a flax seed replacement, but I have not tested this myself so am unsure! Let me know how it goes! x
I’ve just made them substituting butter with vegan sunflower spread and made a chia egg and they worked perfectly! I was a bit worried as the mixture looked quite dry so I added a tiny bit of vegetable oil and a bit more syrup to loosen it up a bit. So easy as well 🙂
Never bother leaving reviews but I really wanted to thank you for this recipe! The flavour is superb, love the spices (added extra cinnamon as suggested), and the texture is great – light and crumbly. Could happily eat a whole batch in one sitting, they are very tasty and our family absolutely loved them!
I only had mediums eggs and with just one egg the dough was not sticking together very well, so I added a second one. I don’t know how much this altered the recipe but the end result was amazing. Thank you so much, I’ll be making these again and again!
Great recipe, made a batch this morning and I know they won’t last long … trying to decorate before they all get eaten ❤️
I made a batch of these for the cubs party. They taste really good, my wife has scoffed several already. Great recipe! I may reduce cooking time by a minute or so if I make some more, and space them out a bit more on the baking tray.
Hi I ended up using 2 eggs too, to bind it
They turned out perfectly 🥰 so yummy 😋
Best recipe for Gingerbread Men they cook and taste perfect
I made them for Colleagues at work and decorated them using small coloured chocolate smarties for eyes and piping . I popped them in little Christmas themed cellophane bags and tied the bags off with curling ribbon. I also made gingerbread love hearts
Thank you Jane
Can i make this and leave dough overnight before rolling cutting and cooking?
I left the dough overnight and it was fine. I found that the chilled shapes kept their shape better whilst the softer ones, made at the end when the dough was quite soft, spread more. Both were delicious! Would also
cook them a minute or two less so not quite as crunchy – personal preference!
Tried this gingerbread recipe this morning and OMG !!!! They are so delicious and very more ish …….. love love love them thank u soo much Jane for the recipe would definitely recommend this recipe to others but I’ll be keeping this recipe to myself xx they are lovely and crispy and sweet with plenty of ginger in them xx my grand kids will enjoy making them in different shapes anytime of the year but we will be making Xmas presents of them will have to start ordering a few pastry cutters to try out xx
If halving the ingredients for this recipe, would I use a small egg please?
Hello, Yes!x
First time I used this recipe today, I added a little bit more syrup when forming into a dough and they spread a little in the oven, but other that they were crunchy and soft, I would use this recipe again 🙂
Hi, mine have turned into blobs 🙁
Would the use of GF plain flour upset the mix? I used proper butter which was chilled. Should I have chilled the mix when it was made?
Thanks
It definitely could do – sometimes gluten free flour needs less or more depending on the mixture, and I haven’t tested this gluten free before.