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4.93 from 13 votes

Gingerbread Men

Sweet, lightly spiced, crunchy biscuits. Shaped like little people and enjoyed by generations.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American, British, Scottish
Keyword: Biscuit, Christmas
Servings: 10 biscuits
Author: Baking with Granny

Ingredients

  • 100 g Butter or Block Margarine at room temperature
  • 100 g Soft Light Brown Sugar
  • 3 tbsp Golden Syrup (Substitutions)
  • 200 g Plain Flour (All-purpose Flour)
  • ½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda)
  • 2 tsp Ground Ginger
  • 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

To Decorate:

  • 100 g Icing Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
  • 1-2 tsp Boiling Water
  • Sweeties (Candies)

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 170°c (150°c for fan-assisted ovens, Gas Mark 3-4 or 325°F) and line a couple of baking sheets with greaseproof paper. Set aside.
  • In a large bowl, cream together your butter/margarine and sugar, until light (in texture - the colour will remain darker due to the brown sugar) and fluffy. Add your golden syrup and stir through to combine.
  • Sift in your flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon. Mix your dry and wet ingredients together to make a stiff dough - you will probably need to use your hands!
  • Gently knead the dough together, before rolling with a rolling pin on a well floured surface, to around 0.5-1cm thick. Using your gingerbread man cutter, cut your people from the dough and transfer to your pre-lined baking sheets, leaving a little space between them. Knead together any off-cut before re-rolling the dough, until you have used it all and cut all your gingerbread people. Depending on the size of your cutter, you should get between 10-20.
  • Bake your gingerbread biscuits in your pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes. The smaller your people, the less time they will take to bake, and vice-versa.
    When they are golden and dry looking, remove them from the oven to cool. Be careful not to overbake your biscuits - this can happen quickly due to the presence of golden syrup in the dough.
  • Once completely cool, you can decorate your gingerbread men. Mix the icing sugar with a little boiling water, adding it a teaspoon at a time until you have the desired consistency. You can use a piping bag for accuracy, or simply drizzle it in place. Finish with sweeties, such as smarties, jelly tots or chocolate chips.
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