I reject the idea that certain foods are fit for certain times of year. I know some folks give up on stews, curries and roasts just because it’s hot. Well I love a curry when the weather is good, but that’s just me. The more heat the better, whether from the sun or little red chillis. And a cup of steaming hot tea on the beach? Bliss. Though it does out me as British quicker than my 5 Minutes In The Sun Lobster Skin.
So gingerbread men are traditionally made at Christmas time. Well not in this house. In case you’re bored of your regular recipe then try this one. It’s fiery, but not so much it puts the kids off. More’s the shame.
This recipe makes a biscuit tin full.
Ingredients:
- 150g butter
- 100g dark soft brown sugar
- 45g golden syrup
- 360g plain white flour
- 5g bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 5g ground cinnamon
- a pinch of very finely ground black pepper
- water
- 50g icing sugar or a white icing tube thingy
- sweeties and silver balls to decorate
Oh so easy. I like to weigh my ingredients in the pan to save on washing up. So pan onto the scales, adjust to zero then add the butter, sugar and golden syrup and put on a medium heat until dissolved. Don’t boil the hell out of it! It will mean some of the liquid evaporates and you’ll have a much less easy to roll dough. And of course the dough will also be super hot and scald little hands that might want to help. At this point pop the oven onto Gas 6 and locate a couple of baking trays.
Once the mixture is molten add the flour, bicarb, ginger, cinnamon and black pepper. Then mix with a wooden spoon until the mixture is all combined and has formed a blob of dough. Now when I made this in the humid summer it formed a dough easily and was a dream to roll out. I and some blog pals have made it in winter and it crumbles. So… if it’s crumbly please add warm water until you have a pliable dough that doesn’t crack when you flatten and roll it. It will still get little lines in it as you roll though. It’s that kind of dough.
Roll out onto a smooth work surface. I don’t use flour on the work surface or the rolling pin but do a quick roll of a small blob to check your work surface is similarly non stick. Then cut away! I roll my dough to about the thickness of a pound coin but it’s really all about how thick you like your men (!)
Move your little men, or whatever other shape you fancied making, onto baking sheets – I don’t use greaseproof paper to line the trays but if you’re nervous about your trays then it’ll do no harm. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes depending on your oven, until browning at the edges. Leave to cool on the tray for a few minutes and then move to a wire rack. When cool make your icing up. Put a tablespoon of boiling water into a bowl and add the icing sugar until you get a thick consistency. Then either pipe onto the men, or spoon on, or use one of those marvellous little white icing tube pens you get from the supermarket. Add sweets of your choice.
Try to let the icing set before you eat them as picking it off is deeply satisfying.
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Holly Bell 
I’ve made those gingerbread shapped as bear but had the same problem as Emma as my dough was very crumbly. Nevermind as my little boy enjoys eating them.
Hi Anne – I have re-made the recipe and think the problem is in the water content. Recipe now amended to include a little water to bind the mixture if it’s a little crumbly. Apologies it wasn’t working as well before. I am wondering if it’s because I made it in June when it was humid. x
Thanks for looking into it. I’ll need to do a new batch next weekend, so I’ll see how the dough will be. x
Anne, if I were you I’d try making the gingerbread from my recent gingerbread house post. I think it’s better. Made with maple syrup! Yum. x
I’ll add maple syrup on my shopping list and give it a go. Thanks
We tried this today but found it really hard to roll out. It just cracked and crumbled so I ended up squishing it into balls and flattening instead. Do you usually leave it to cool or roll it straight from the saucepan? Wonder if I shouldn’t have put in all the flour or something?! Still very tasty though!
Did you heat the sugar etc a little too much? If too much
moisture evaporates then it’ll be hard to roll. Also did you use digital scales? My old scales were very out which meant some probs like this. I roll straight from saucepan. It’s usually on the greasy side for me. x
Gingerbread has become one of my favourite biscuit recipes the last few months! Unfortunately my ‘man’ cutter lives with me in Southampton at uni, and so at home I’ve been making round ones instead – taste good though :) If you add powdered ginger to a basic water icing you can get an extra bit of flavour in which is fun!
Thank you for sharing all your lovely recipes!
That’s such a great idea! I’m going to steal it if that’s okay. I don’t mind what the shape of my gingerbread is as long as there’s lots of it and warm tea too. x
Thanks Halide! And thanks Fern for shamelessly posting my blog on FB! I too am a fan of spag bol and fish pie – Charlie calls spag bol 'meat' as it's one of the few ways he experiences beef. Oops! x
Hi Holly, I've been looking for a gingerbread man recipe and came across your blog via Fern's link on FB. Love it all and am newly inspired to cook something other than spag bol and fish pie for Matilda. Great blog and congrats on the new-ish baby :-) Halide x
You are so right – I would make these any time of year and I wouldn't hear the kids complaining!