Best Soft And Easy Gingerbread Men Recipes

SOFT AND EASY GINGERBREAD MEN

Steps:

• In a large bowl, with mixer at slow speed, beat flour, sugar, butter, molasses, applesauce, egg, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt until well mixed. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350°F On a lightly floured surface, working with half of the dough at a time, roll 1/8 inch thick. With floured cookie cutters, cut dough into shapes. Using a metal spatula or pancake turner, place cookies 1/2 inch apart on greased cookie sheets. Reroll trimmings and continue to cut shapes. Bake 8 minutes, or until very lightly browned. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

GINGERBREAD MAN COOKIES

Steps:

• Add sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, baking soda and salt to the large bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low speed with the paddle attachment until well combined.
• Add softened butter, evaporated milk, and molasses. Mix again until completely combined, starting on the lowest speed so that the liquid doesn't splash out of the bowl. Gradually increase the speed until the butter and sugar are creamed together.
• Put the mixer back on low speed and add 5 cups of flour (one cup at a time), stirring constantly until the flour is completely incorporated.
• The dough should be quite thick and slightly sticky. If it's still too soft and sticky, add additional flour (½ cup at a time), just until a fairly stiff dough comes together. I typically use at least 5 ½ cups of flour total for this recipe -- sometimes up to 6 cups if the air is particularly humid.
• Plop about half of the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Wrap it up, then flatten it into a disc. Repeat with the second half of the dough. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (or overnight).
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
• Working with one disc of dough at a time (leave the other disc in the fridge to stay cool), roll out the dough to a thickness between ¼-inch and ½-inch on a very well-floured surface. Use a floured cookie cutter to cut the dough into desired shapes. Don't be afraid to continually add more flour as you work, since the dough will become sticky. Re-roll the dough scraps until all of the dough is used.
• Use a metal spatula to place shapes onto prepared baking sheets. Chill in the freezer (if there's room) or in the refrigerator again for about 10 minutes (this second round of chilling will just ensure that the cookies don't spread in the oven).
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until slightly golden brown but still soft. Make sure that you don't bake them for too long or they will become hard and crispy. To maintain the soft, chewy texture, pull them out of the often while they're still soft and let them firm up slightly while they cool.
• Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Once the cookies are cool, decorate with desired icing, frosting, candies and decocrations. If you'd like to prepare the icing here, mix together confectioners' sugar, milk, corn syrup and vanilla until smooth. If the icing is too thick, add more milk, about a teaspoon at a time, until the frosting is spreadable. If the icing is too thin, add powdered sugar until desired texture is reached. Transfer icing to a piping bag and decorate cookies as desired. The icing will set in about 30 minutes.

GINGERBREAD MEN COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in large bowl. Set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and vanilla;mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into a thick flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on lightly floured work surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes with 5-inch cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and just begin to brown. Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely. Decorate cooled cookies as desired. Store cookies in airtight container up to5 days.

GINGERBREAD MEN

Steps:

• Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and allspice into a medium bowl; set aside. Melt the butter and shortening in a medium saucepan; remove from the heat and stir in the brown sugar and molasses. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool slightly.
• Add the egg to the butter mixture; beat with a mixer on medium speed until incorporated. Reduce the mixer speed to low; beat in the flour mixture in two additions until just combined. Divide the dough in half; wrap each half in plastic wrap and pat into 1/2-inch-thick disks. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
• Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface, dusting with flour as needed. Cut out gingerbread men with a 3 1/2- to 5-inch cookie cutter and arrange 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Brush off the excess flour and refrigerate the cutouts 15 minutes.
• Bake the cookies until golden around the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 3 to 5 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool completely. Decorate with royal icing and let harden at room temperature, about 1 hour.

SOFT GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Beat the butter in a stand mixer or with electric beaters until it is soft and then beat in, one by one, the sugar, golden syrup and treacle. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Tip in the flour, baking powder and ginger along with a pinch of salt and beat in the flour on a slow speed until it is just combined. The dough will be very soft at this point. Scrape the dough into a container and chill it in the fridge for about 8 hours or overnight. You don't have to leave it for this long but it does improve the flavour.
• To roll out the dough you'll need a non-stick work surface that is lightly dusted with flour. Scoop out a small batch of the dough (it will still be very soft) and roll it out carefully to about 2mm thick. Cut out gingerbread people or circles and transfer them to a lined baking sheet. When you have filled the sheet (leaving enough room for spreading) put it into the fridge for 30 mins along with the remaining dough (you can freeze the dough in batches, if you like).
• Heat the oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3. Cook the gingerbread for the 10-12 minutes depending on level of crispness don't try and remove them from the sheet until the gingerbread shapes have cooled enough. Cool completely and then decorate if you want. You can freeze the cooked gingerbread if you like, or keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container

GINGERBREAD MEN

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and line a baking tray with baking parchment. Sieve the flour, salt, bicarb, ginger and cinnamon into a large bowl. Heat the butter, sugar and syrup until dissolved. Leave the sugar mixture to cool slightly, then mix into the dry ingredients to form a dough. Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 mins.
• On a surface lightly dusted with flour, roll out the dough to a ¼-inch thickness. Stamp out the gingerbread men shapes with a cutter, then re-roll any off-cuts and repeat. Place your gingerbread shapes on the lined trays, allowing space for them to spread. Cook for 10-15 mins, then remove from the oven and leave to cool.

GINGERBREAD MEN COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses, egg and water. In another bowl, whisk together remaining ingredients minus frosting; gradually beat into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Shape each into a disk; cover. Refrigerate until easy to handle, about 30 minutes., Preheat oven to 350°. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with a floured 4-in. gingerbread man cookie cutter. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets., Bake until edges are firm, 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely. Frost as desired.