Gingerbread Men Cookies

These gingerbread men cookies are the easiest, fastest, cheapest, unfussiest gingerbread men cookies we’ve ever encountered. They come together in minutes from a minimum of ingredients, all of which are pantry staples. They’re so simple, even your preschooler could practically make them. They’re also the subtlest gingerbread men we’ve tasted in terms of spice, though they’re still quite, quite nice, so even the aforementioned preschooler is pretty guaranteed to like these mild and chewy cookies that almost taste more like a honey cookie than a traditional gingerbread cookie. So much so that you could get by with making these all year round, which is good, because after your first batch, we think you’ll be craving these cut-out cookies far more frequently than just at the holidays. Originally published Dec. 6, 2011.–Renee Schettler Rossi

Gingerbread Men Cookies

• Quick Glance
• 30 M
• 1 H
• Makes about 4 grown-ups or more wee gingerbread tots

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Ingredients

Directions

• 1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C).
• 2. Place the flour, baking powder, ginger, butter, sugar, and honey in a food processor and pulse until you get crumbs. Add the water and mix until a ball of dough forms.
• 3. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll it out with a rolling pin until about 1/4 inch thick. Dip your cookie cutters in flour and then cut out gingerbread men and carefully transfer the dough shapes to the baking sheet.
• 4. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes if using large cookie cutters, less time if using small cutters. Let the gingerbread people cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet prior to transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
• 5. To decorate the gingerbread men cookies, pipe icing or melted chocolate onto the gingerbread people as clothes, using a pastry bag or a resealable plastic bag with one corner snipped off. You can also accessorize the gingerbread people with chopped nuts, candied ginger, dried fruit, whatever you please. You can store the gingerbread cookies an airtight container for up to 2 weeks—although good luck with them lasting that long!