The ultimate Christmas cookie, is it not??
Gingerbread Men
Is it too early to get into Christmas baking?
And is there any cookie more Christmas-y than Gingerbread Men?
Prevent screen from sleeping
Smells like Christmas, tastes like Christmas, looks like Christmas!
Youll love these Gingerbread Men.
you’re able to actually really taste the ginger and spice flavour.
It also helps hold the doughs shape.
Golden syrup makes a great sub, or treacle.
Maple syrup is no good, its too thin.
Brown sugar Ive used ordinary brown sugar here.
Softened butter If you want specifics: 17C/63F is ideal.
It should be malleable but should not make your fingers shiny with grease when you poke it.
Your finger should basically be clean.
The texture is important: If its too soft, this will compromise your cookie dough!
check that its at room temperature.
Fridge cold eggs wont blend in well (and also could cool the butter).
Spices:
Ground ginger, of course.
We are making GINGERbread men, after all!
Mixed Spiceis a store bought blend of spices used holiday dishes that gives Gingerbread Men more layers of flavour.
Using just ginger and cinnamon as many recipes do is just too one dimensional!
How to make Gingerbread Men
Gingerbread Men are made using a soft, generously-spiced cookie dough.
Its rolled out then a Gingerbread Men cookie cutter is used to cut the shapes out.
Of course, it doesnt have to be a Gingerbread Man you could make any shape you want!
Making the Gingerbread Cookie Dough
Cream the butter and sugar, then add egg and vanilla.
Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper / parchment paper;
Cut out Gingerbread Men shapes.
My cutter is 11cm/4.5 long.
Refrigeration makes the dough easier to work with.
Something long and thin is best to minimise ruining the shape!
The gingerbread men will be soft out of the oven but will firm up as they cool.
Note however even crisp gingerbread men soften the next day.
Crispy vs Soft?
If you want a softer cookie with the signature golden colour (pictured my pick!
), stick to 12 minutes bake time.
For a crispy cookie with more colour, bake 14 minutes.
For the latter, the cookies will be soft straight from the oven, but will harden upon cooling.
Note however, even crispy cookies go soft the next day.
Prevent screen from sleeping
They just wont stay firm, sadly!
This recipe makes 20 Gingerbread Men using a cutter thats 11cm / 4.5 tall.
Decorating the Gingerbread Men
The best icing to use to decorating Gingerbread Men isRoyal Icing.
Also, this icing sets hard and so wont soften the Gingerbread Men.
you could get as fancy as you want with your decorations!
I use mini M&Ms and silver balls for the buttons.
And yes, I did give him a smiley face.
Nobody wants to eat a grumpy Gingerbread Man!
And even through this toughest of years we can all find some reason to smile, right?
