Gingerbread men cookies are that are simple to make and subtle in taste. Our kinda Christmas cookie.
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.–Renee Schettler Rossi
Gingerbread Men Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour plus more for the work surface
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger or more to taste (up to 3 teaspoons is safe if you like a truly gingery gingerbread)
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter chilled and cubed
- 3 tablespoons granulated or light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon cold water
- Royal icing, melted chocolate, nuts, candied ginger, and dried fruit
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Everyone really enjoyed these gingerbread men cookies, though the general consensus was “more ginger!” I would think twice before offering them up as gingerbread, as the honey flavor was equal to the ginger — though, of course, this will vary depending on the freshness and quality of ground ginger you use. At any rate, despite minor quibbles over naming, they were lovely. I made them by hand rather than in a food processor, working the butter into the other ingredients with my fingertips to create breadcrumbs, then stirring in the water with a knife until the dough was thickened enough to bring together by squeezing it. It’s a little slower to do this way but still far from difficult, and with the ingredients all being cupboard staples, it’s a great recipe to have on hand.
Originally published November 30, 2017
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So cute!!!
Glad you think so, too, Natalie!
Do you think I could sub equal amounts of corn (or other) syrup? Can’t eat honey, but I love a ginger cookie without the heavy spices, and so easy to make! Thanks!
Hi Ruthie, although I haven’t tried substituting in this particular recipe, you can usually exchange honey for corn syrup, molasses, golden syrup or even agave nectar. Let us know how they turned out!