These Gingerbread Men are the ultimate Christmas cookies! This recipe produces soft and robust gingerbread cookies. They are sweet, buttery, and spiced to retain their shape wonderfully. Finish them off with my easy-to-make icing recipe that yields enough for decorating your cookies, and you’ve got the perfect festive activity for the entire family. The formula includes a step-by-step video!

Perfect Gingerbread Cookies

The season of Christmas cookies is upon us, and I can’t imagine a cookie better than the gingerbread people.

With their cute icing faces and bowties of candy and buttons, they’re often the most adorable cookies on the table but rarely the most delicious. Many recipes call for lots of flour to make the incredibly sticky dough (a consequence of using molasses) more manageable. However, this can result in dull, dry, dry cookies that taste poorly.

Although my recipe requires some patience, I just let my batter chill for a couple of hours, ensuring that simple gingerbread cookies are also flavorful.

They are incredibly soft and spiced in a manner that’s not overpowering, yet distinctively gingerbread flavor. In addition to their excellent combination of spices, these cookies possess a delicate buttery taste that gives them a richer taste and balances everything beautifully. Much like my beloved sugar-based cookies, My gingerbread cookies keep their shape throughout baking, which makes them ideal for cutting out precise shapes. Additionally, they don’t become too harsh (like gingersnaps). Instead, the centers are firm and eventually melt in your mouth.

What You Need for Gingerbread Men

The gingerbread cookies are simple to prepare and taste delicious! Let’s look at a few of the main elements that make these cookies:

Butter. Use unsalted butter and ensure that it is soft but not melted.

Brown sugar. You can choose between light and darker brown sugar. Dark brown adds more flavor, so be aware of that.

Molasses. Molasses is a crucial ingredient in gingerbread! It provides flavor, color, and moisture. Find molasses that states “unsulphered” on the label and stay clear of blackstrap, which could cause the cookies to become bitter.

Gluten. Use all-purpose flour, and don’t be frightened to use more when rolling out your dough (it will be sticky). Note that I’ve increased my flour to a tiny small (about 1 cup) compared to my original recipe, which was published a few years ago.

Spices. We’ll use traditional gingerbread spices like clove, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

How to Make Gingerbread Men

Mix sugar, butter, and molasses together, then add an egg and vanilla extract.

Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl and slowly mix them with our wet ingredients. You’ll end up with a sticky dough, then wrap it in a tight sheet and keep it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Cleanly flour your work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough until it’s about 1/4″ thick.

Use a cookie cutter to make shapes. Make scraps of dough and roll the dough into the most cookies you can. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

SAM’S Tips: This dough will be very sticky once you’ve put it all together. This is normal! You can chill it for several hours to make it easier to handle. Some recipes require more flour to reduce the time needed; however, I wouldn’t say I like this as it can make the cookies dry, hard, and tasteless. The chilling process lets the buttery, deliciously gingerbread-yet-spiced taste shine!

This recipe for icing produces a little more than you usually need, allowing you to enjoy decorating your gingerbread, guys! If you don’t require lots of frosting, make a half-batch.

Mix the ingredients for icing with an electric whisk, beginning with two tablespoons of milk. When you’re ready, you pull your whisk from the bowl and see the ribbon of icing drop-down hold its shape for a few minutes before dissolving in the remaining bowl. If your icing seems excessively thick at this point, then add the milk. If it’s not wide enough, you can add additional powdered sugar.

Transfer the icing into a piping bag. Decorate! The icing should be set before eating (or do not; I won’t decide! ).

Gingerbread Men

The Gingerbread Men are the ultimate Christmas cookies! My recipe makes soft yet firm gingerbreads deliciously sweet, buttery, and spiced to retain their shape wonderfully. Finish them off with a simple icing that creates enough for decorating for your guests, and you’ll have an enjoyable Christmas activity for all the family. This recipe comes with a video tutorial on how to make it!

Print Pin Rate Course Dessert: Cookies, Dessert: American Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time 10 minutes. Chilling Time 3 hours Total Time 3 hours, 30 minutes Servings: 24 gingerbread guys Calories The author is Sam Merritt

Gingerbread Cookie Icing

Combine sugar, 2 Tablespoons of corn syrup, milk, and vanilla extract in a large bowl and mix until well combined. It would be best if you looked for consistency in the icing that drips off the spoon, returns to the bowl, and retains its form for several minutes before dissolving in the remaining frosting. If the frosting is too dense, add milk, around one teaspoon at a time, until the frosting is thick but pipeable. If it is too thin, add more powdered sugar until the desired texture is achieved.

Transfer to a piper bag using a tip for piping (I utilized Wilton #5) or place it in the Ziploc bag and cut off a tiny piece of the corner. Pipe frosting onto cookies and decorate with candies if you like.

Let the frosting set before you can enjoy it (this was only 30 minutes for me; however, it could take longer if your frosting is wetter).

Store unopened cookies within an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes for When Rolling

When rolling cookies, dust your work surface with flour to ensure the cookies don’t get stuck. If the dough remains sticky, brush your dough roll pin with more flour as necessary. It is a soft dough by nature, but it isn’t. It’s not become too sticky to be manageable. If your dough becomes too difficult for you to wrap (too rigid) or is breaking the dough, allow it to rest on the counter at room temp for 10 to 20 minutes before moving on.

Making in Advance

The dough for cookies can be prepared, then chilled and stored in the fridge for up to 5 days before cutting, rolling, and baking. The icing can be prepared up to 3 days in advance and then stored in an air-conditioned refrigerator or the fridge. Store it in an airtight container, and cover the top of the icing with plastic wrap before removing the lid. The icing may require stirring before use.