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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Came across your recipe after a last minute decision to make gingerbread people. Fab recipe I did substitute one of the 5 tbsps of golden syrup for a tbsp treacle. They were delicious and went down a storm with the grandchildren. Will certainly be using again.
I even decorated some of them … wish I could have added a picture, but hey ho……
Used your recipe for my first attempt at gingerbread cookies, they have turned out so well, I added a little cinnamon and mixed spice and they have a very festive but not too spicy vibe going on. Can’t wait to decorate them later and give to friends as Christmas gifts. Thank you for such a lovely recipe.
So happy with how these turned out, great recipe. Thank you so much. I may add extra ginger and cinnamon next time 🙂
Hi Jane,
I am planning on making stamped gingerbread cookies for Christmas this year… Would I be able to use this recipe, should I leave the dough to chill before baking it? 🙂
Hiya! No it doesn’t. Hope this helps! x
Could I use honey instead of syrup? Merry Christmas! X
Hiya! Yes absolutely you can. Enjoy! x
I made these yesterday for my Xmas party… Everyone loved them! The mixture was a bit dry so I added a spoonful of milk. I think this was because I didn’t measure my golden syrup very well as it was hard to squeeze out of the bottle. But other than that… It was fabulous! I will be using this again!
I’m wanting to make a big batch of dough at once to bake over multiple days… should i refrigerate or freeze the spare dough and when ready to bake can i do from frozen or thaw it out first?
Hiya! You can freeze the raw dough for up to 3 months, and refrigerate for up to 48 hours! And yes you can bake from frozen! Hope this helps! x
Lovely recipe I like that they are not too spiced just a gentle flavour I added just a hint of nutmeg and vanilla. For me the chilled butter was too chilled, room temp worked better and I put the first batch in un-chilled and they rose too much for my liking, I got better result with the second batch just chilled for 5 min in the fridge. Will be enjoying these at home and on the tree.
I absolutely love this recipe! So easy to follow for someone with all the gear and no idea! smell amazing and taste gorgeous! Not sure whether to decorate them or not.
Hi, am going to make these for a xmas party 🎄🎅🏻🥳 and was wondering if i could put cinnamon in as well? They look great!
Absolutely, enjoy! x
Planning to make these, but I was just wondering whether stork could be used in place of butter… I’m assuming the answer is no?
Thank you!
Hiya! I personally would stick to block butter – baking spread may cause them to spread! Hope this helps! x
Hello! This has been the best recipe I have found and I love making gingerbread biscuits with your recipe with my daughter, but I need to make some for some friends and we have vegan eaters…please can you advise what can I use as a substitute for the egg?
Hey Jane! panning on making these for Christmas and was wondering if I need to go out a buy some golden syrup for this recipe or could I just use honey, I gravely preferred the taste of honey and I have a dark and rich verity that I think would taste good with ginger?
Hiya! This should be absolutely fine, enjoy! x
Hi, are these spft and chewy as that’s what I’m looking for =) didn’t see much in the description
I have tried this recipe twice and the first time I baked the cookies for 10 mins 30 secs and they were very crispy and hard. If you would like them to be soft and gooey I would recommend baking for 9 mins! Hope this helps x
Soooo impressed with this recipe. I did two bad things and they still turned out (well three!) firstly my butter wasn’t chilled, next I then realised after starting I was out of bicarbonate so after a bit of reading I decided to try it with 2tsp of baking powder and cooked some to trial before my little boy woke up. They were impressive even with these alterations. I chilled the rest and baked them 24 hours later. Tbh they were better fresh in terms of shape, they did rise but once cooled were ok and were chewy as I like them – cooked them for about 8 mins both times. This will now be my go to recipe as so much easier than every other gingerbread recipe I’ve ever made and better!