Gingerbread Men

In my book, gingerbread men are the most iconic Christmas cookie. Everything about them puts me in the Christmas spirit. With their festive, adorable, fun-to-decorate look and their dark molasses, brown sugar, heady winter-spice flavor, gingerbread man cookies are a must on a Christmas cookie platter. Bake a batch, set out candy and frosting with piping bags, invite guests, turn up the Christmas tunes and serve festive Christmas drinks. You’ll have a lot of fun seeing what everyone comes up with when it comes to decorating these gingerbread men cookies!

Ingredients for Gingerbread Men

• Butter: Soften your butter to room temperature so it whips easily with the brown sugar.
• Dark brown sugar: We prefer dark brown sugar for our gingerbread men recipe. Its molasses-caramel flavor pairs perfectly with the spices and dark molasses. Dark brown sugar also has a higher moisture content than granulated sugar, making these gingerbread man cookies extra soft.
• Molasses: From blackstrap to dark to light molasses, there are a few different types of molasses to choose from. We recommend dark molasses to impart the signature gingerbread taste and color. If you can’t find dark molasses, dark corn syrup or light molasses can be used.
• Egg: This gingerbread men recipe needs only one egg to bind everything together.
• All-purpose flour: We’ve found that all-purpose flour provides the best structure for these gingerbread men cookies and holds their cutout shape nicely.
• Baking soda: A touch of baking soda creates a lovely rise and fluff in these cookies.
• Spices: Zippy ground ginger is our key spice for the gingerbread men recipe’s flavor, and sweet cinnamon, spicy nutmeg and cozy allspice add to the warmth and winter-spice taste.
• Frosting: Grab a jar of premade frosting or make your own vanilla frosting at home. You can use cream cheese frosting, too, and royal icing is an iconic cookie decorating frosting to use for intricate and clean detailing.

Directions

Step 1: Make the gingerbread dough

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In a large bowl, use a hand mixer or stand mixer to cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, five to seven minutes. Beat in the molasses, egg and water. In another bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.

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Gradually beat the flour mixture into the creamed mixture just until combined.

Step 2: Chill the dough

Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a disk. Cover each disk tightly with storage wrap. Refrigerate the dough until it’s easy to handle, about 30 minutes.

Step 3: Cut out the gingerbread men

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Preheat the oven to 350°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of dough to 1/8-inch thickness.

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Dip a 4-inch gingerbread man cookie cutter into extra flour and press the cookie cutter into the gingerbread dough. Place each gingerbread man cutout 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets.

Step 4: Bake the cookies

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Bake the cookies until the edges are firm, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely to room temperature.

Step 5: Decorate the gingerbread men

Turn up a Christmas baking playlist and get decorating! Set out Christmas sprinkles and candies, and scrape frosting into piping bags fitted with different tips. Here’s how to use a piping bag if you’re new to the technique.

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How to Decorate Gingerbread Men

There’s a lot you can do with these. Dress up gingerbread men cookies in frosted outfits with buttons and decorative piping. Squiggle zig-zag lines on the gingerbread men’s arms and legs, glue Christmas sprinkles down their middles for buttons, pipe on smiley faces, add scarves or bow ties, and/or give them adorable overalls or dresses.

If you like, you can even tint white frosting with liquid, gel or paste food coloring. Liquid coloring will produce a pastel color, while gel and paste food coloring will create deeper hues. Candies are fun to utilize as decorations for the face and hair. Look below or to these other gingerbread decorating ideas for inspiration!

Gingerbread Men Variations

• Load in the spices: If you like a heavily spiced gingerbread men recipe, increase each spice by 1/2 teaspoon.
• Bake a batch of vegan gingerbread man cookies: If you’re strictly plant-based, don’t worry, we have a great vegan gingerbread man cookies recipe for you!
• Use different cutouts: Gingerbread men are just one of many shapes you can make with this gingerbread dough. Try out other cookie ideas, like gingerbread house cookies, fun ugly sweater cookies, super creative gingerbread Christmas cards, absolutely adorable gingerbread teddy bears or these easy snowflake gingerbread cookies.
• Forgo the decorating: If no part of you wants to decorate these gingerbread men cookies and, honestly, you’re just in it for the flavor, that’s totally fine! In fact, you may be more interested in our citrus gingerbread cookies. You’ll still get that delicious, spicy gingerbread cookie taste with an added honey glaze on top. Yum!

How to Store Gingerbread Men

Store leftover gingerbread men cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. Try not to stack them or you’ll smudge their lovely decorations!

Can you make a gingerbread men recipe ahead of time?

This gingerbread men recipe creates fantastic make-ahead Christmas cookies. Just make sure you know how to store them properly and frost them closer to when you plan to serve them. Like other cutout cookies, gingerbread man cookies last for about a week at room temperature in an airtight container. You can also freeze baked cutout cookies or gingerbread cookie dough for six months.

Gingerbread Men Tips

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Can you skip chilling the gingerbread cookie dough?

No, we don’t recommend skipping the chilling step. Chilling cookie dough makes it easier to handle and helps the dough hold the shapes of the gingerbread men better during baking.

Could you use this recipe to make a gingerbread house?

No, we don’t recommend using this recipe to make a gingerbread house. These gingerbread men cookies are soft and easy to bite into. The pieces for a gingerbread house need to be a bit stronger to hold the house’s structure better. Check out our gingerbread house recipe instead, where we provide a printable gingerbread house template, directions for building, ideas for decorating, and tons of tips and tricks for making the best gingerbread house.