Gingerbread men

Gingerbread men

By Good Food
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(59 ratings)
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Prep: 45 mins Cook: 15 mins

Easy

Makes 12 big gingerbread men

Even the smallest hands can help make these gingerbread men – perfect for Christmas. You can use raisins, sultanas or Smarties to decorate

Nutrition and extra info

Nutrition:

  • kcal264
  • fat10g
  • saturates6g
  • carbs43g
  • sugars20g
  • fibre1g
  • protein3g
  • salt0.33g
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Ingredients

  • 140g unsalted butter
  • 100g dark muscovado sugar
  • 3 tbsp golden syrup
    Golden syrup

    Golden syrup

    goal-dun sir-rup

    Golden syrup is a clear, sparkling, golden-amber coloured, sweet…

  • 350g plain flour
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
    Bicarbonate of soda

    Bicarbonate of soda

    Bicarbonate of soda, or baking soda, is an alkali which is used to raise soda breads and full-…

  • 2 tsp ground ginger and 1 tsp ground cinnamon
    Cinnamon

    Cinnamon

    sin-ah-mun

    A fragrant spice which comes from the inner bark of a tropical tree. When dried, it curls into…

  • pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
    Peppers

    Pepper

    pep-iz

    Also known as capsicums, bell peppers, sweet peppers or by their colours, for example red and…

  • 2 balls stem ginger from a jar, chopped
    Ginger

    Ginger

    jin-jer

    Mainly grown in Jamaica, Africa, India, China and Australia, ginger is the root of the plant. It…

To decorate

  • 50g icing sugar
  • a few glacé cherries (we used undyed)
  • 2 balls stem ginger

Method

  1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Melt butter, sugar and syrup in a pan. Mix flour, soda, spices and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Stir in the butter mix and chopped ginger to make a stiff-ish dough.

  2. Wait until cool enough to handle, then roll out dough to about 5mm thick. Stamp out gingerbread men, re-rolling and pressing the trimmings back together and rolling again. Lift onto baking sheets. Bake for 12 mins until golden. Cool 10 mins on the sheets, then lift onto cooling racks.

  3. To decorate, mix icing sugar with a few drops of water until thick and smooth. Halve then slice cherries thinly to make smiles, and cut ginger into small squares. Spoon icing into a food bag, snip off the tiniest bit from one corner, then squeeze eyes and buttons, and a tiny smile onto 1 man at a time. Stick on a cherry smile and ginger buttons. Repeat; leave to set. Will keep up to 1 week in an airtight tin.

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Comments, questions and tips

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foodloverxxx
15th Dec, 2011
I made these for my friends as a Christmas present and they were delicious!! They were very easy to make and loads of fun to decorate....children could make them WITH supervision (of course ) :) !!! A fantastic recipe that I really liked!
malyn94
9th Dec, 2011
5.05
Forgot to rate! I am giving it 5 stars despite the crumbly dough as for me this wasn't a problem and the flavour is really good - eating one as we speak!
malyn94
9th Dec, 2011
5.05
Made these today. The mixture is a little crumbly so perhaps not the best recipe to use with small children but the taste and texture is lovely and surprisingly not too sweet. Just a pinch of cayenne gives the flavour a little 'bite'. Yummy!
jhammerton
4th Dec, 2011
4.05
On a friend's suggestion, added an egg -- worked a treat.
jhammerton
30th Nov, 2011
4.05
Tried these for the first time today -- dough was very crumbly and stuck to the rolling pin. Someone suggested using more golden syrup -- has anyone tried this and found that it works?
simonamurphy
27th Nov, 2011
5.05
Delicious, great fun and so simple to make! Would recommend a shorter cooking time, 8 - 10 mins I find is enough as I don't like my gingerbread men too crunchy.
debz88
20th Nov, 2011
Great for my son who is egg allergic and dairy intolerant - he loves them, simply to make and great fun!
debbieafw
19th Nov, 2011
2.05
Although the taste was lovely, they are definitely not a recipe for making with a three year old. The dough was so crumbly, yet sticky. It stuck to the rolling pin, despite copious amounts of flour and cracked as you rolled, even on the first roll out. Very frustrating for mum and eager child!!!
nellawin
28th Oct, 2011
2.05
I've tried this recipe several times and each time it's crumbly and impossible to work with! It definitely needs at least 4tbsp of golden syrup to actually bind the dough! Once recovered it tastes lovely but the recipe definitely needs to be improved!
cupcakegodess
28th Oct, 2011
4.05
Sound good, I'm not a big fan of ginger so I'll use less, but sound great! I'll make dem with my lil cousin, she's 8 and she luvs baking with me!!!! Speacially cupcakes!! Jessicaxx

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