Gingerbread Man Cookies
Find the original Food-4Tots page here.
“All I want for Christmas is my gingerbread man cookies!!” That’s my son’s wish for each Christmas. In the past, I would buy it from the bakery shop to save the hassle. But this year, I decided to make them by myself as I find it easy to do. Most importantly, mother and son had a whole load of fun making them together!!
Originally I planned to make gingerbread much earlier. Unfortunately, both my son and I were hit by the sick bugs at the beginning of the month. Thankfully we were only down for a week. Once we had fully recovered, we quickly kicked start our special “project” to be in time for Christmas. But, it was not a smooth start. When we headed to the baking supply shop to buy our ingredients, some of the items were out-of-stock due to high seasonal demand. Nevertheless, we still managed to complete our shopping list by visiting other stores.
During the process of making these cookies, I encountered some difficulties in cutting out the dough. The dough turned soft easily and I had to put it back to the fridge to harden it for several times. I think it may be due to hot temperature in my kitchen. Well, it’s just my guess. If you have better ways of dealing with this problem of mine, I love to hear from you.
I had bookmarked a few recipes for gingerbread cookies, but as a first timer at making these spicy cookies I was quite unsure of which recipe to pick. Each recipe has its own combination of spices. Some use black treacle/molasses while others use honey. After much contemplation, I decided to follow the ginger biscuits recipe from You Can Cook cookbook written by Annabel Karmel. She is my favourite cookbook author for children recipes. I had tried so many of her recipes and so far none had disappointed me. I also incorporated some steps and tips from Martha Stewart, Simply Recipes, Joy of Baking and 孟老師的100道手工餅干 respectively.
As it turns out, the gingerbread cookies taste really delicious!! The sweetness is just right and the spices are not overpowering. They are easy-to-follow and fun-to-make too. You can bake it soft or crispy according to your liking. If you are running out of time, you can make the dough one day ahead, and bake the cookies the next day. My son enjoys cutting and decorating his gingerbread men.
As for the royal icing, I didn’t follow the traditional way which uses egg whites, lemon juice and powdered sugar due to concern for salmonella contamination from raw eggs. As a result, I used meringue powder as substitute for egg white. I also bought one ready-to-use writing icing. Both worked well for me.
There are still 10 more days to go before Christmas. I hope this recipe comes in time for those who want to make some festive goodies for friends and the love ones. This is also a great opportunity for you to cook with your kids.
Recipe for Gingerbread Men
Adapted and modified from
You Can Cook (for kids) by Annabel Karmel
and
Martha Stewart
Yield: 4 baking trays
(about 80 small gingerbread men or 24 large gingerbread men )
Ingredients
Steps
- In a mixing bowl, whisk and sift flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, ground ginger and mixed spice. Add in salt and mix well. Set aside.
- Let the butter soften at room temperature (refer to note 2). Transfer softened butter to a mixing bowl. Add in brown sugar. Use a rubber spatula to combine the ingredients.
- Use a hand held electrical mixer, beat them until light and fluffy.
- Add in molasses and then slowly add in egg in 2-3 batches. Beat at high speed till creamy.
- Gradually add the flour mixture. Just a few tablespoons at a time at first, and then in larger batches. Use a rubber spatula to roughly mix the flour mixture with the wet mixture. Do not stir the mixture in a circular movement. Use “cutting”, “pressing” and “scraping” actions to just combine the ingredients. Then use hand to form the dough. Do not overwork the dough.
- Divide the dough into 3 portions. Flatten each into disc about 2½cm (1 in) thick and wrap in cling film. Refrigerate until firm, for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Working with one disc at a time. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. Place dough on lightly floured parchment paper and cover with a cling film. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to 3mm (1/8 in) thickness. Then return the dough to the fridge, refrigerate or freeze until firm for about 15-20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 170°C. Line baking trays with parchment papers.
- Remove dough from the fridge, cut out shapes with cookies cutters and transfer to baking tray. Gather all the trimmings, re-roll and briefly refrigerate or freeze to firm up. Repeat until all the dough is used up.
- Using pastry brush, brush cookies with egg white.
- Place the baking tray at the lowest rack. Bake at 170°C for about 8-12 minutes (refer to note 3), rotating the baking tray halfway through. After that, turn off the oven, leave the cookies inside with the oven door shut. Let the residue heat in the oven cook the cookies for a further 5 minutes.
- Remove the baking tray from the oven. Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the baking tray before turning onto racks to cool completely. Decorate with royal icing as desired. Then store them in an airtight container.
Notes
- I bought molasses from Phoon Huat, a local baking ingredient supply shop. Before you measure the treacle/ molasses, dip your spoon into oil and grease the measuring cup so it doesn’t stick.
- Use your finger tip to press lightly on the butter to test (refer to photo below).
- Set the baking time depending on the texture and size of the cookies. For smaller or softer cookies, bake 8-10 minutes. For bigger or crunchier copies, bake 11-12 minutes.
- If you are making these cookies as gift tags, make a hole at the top of the cookies with a straw before baking.
Recipe for Royal Icing
Adapted and modified from Wilton Method
Yield: 1½ cup
Ingredients
Steps
- Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (about 8-10 minutes).
- Adjust the consistency if needed. If it’s too runny, add more sugars. If it’s too hard, add more water. Add colouring and mix well. Transfer icing to a piping bag with a small tip, decorate as desired. Keep the icing covered or else it will dry out.
Notes
- I use Wilton brand which is available in local baking ingredient supply shop. Meringue powder is made from dehydrated egg whites, sugar, gum, corn starch and an array of stabilizers and flavoring agents. For further info, please read these links (buzzle and wisegeek).
- Instead of making the royal icing, you can buy the ready-made icing ie Wilton decorative icing tube (as shown in photo above).