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Spiced Gingerbread Men Cookies

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Scrumptious, spicy, delicious, little men all dressed up for the Holidays! These Spiced Gingerbread Men Cookies are the perfect recipe for Santa’s special plate!

I love to be surrounded by good-looking men! Especially during the Holidays when they smell like cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and they wear cute bow ties, and let me nibble on their hands! What can I say! I get weak in the knees when these guys hang around! 😉

Gingerbread cookies

There are just certain holiday baked goods that say “Merry Christmas!”  Well…some YELL it!

Gingerbread men are definitely one of the screamers! They make me smile and hum a little Christmas carol.  To quote my good friend Winnie the Pooh… “I get Rumbly in my Tumbly” when I spy one of these handsome devils!

I found this amazing “Spiced Gingerbread Man” recipe several years ago through Pinterest, on the website “The Comfort of Cooking.”

Now as usual I’ve changed a few things up…mainly the steps to make them. I’ve simplified them down just a bit. This recipe will make about 24 yummy crispy spicy, perfect for dunking, Gingerbread men!

How To Make Spiced Gingerbread Men Cookies Recipe

Start out by mixing all your dry ingredients together. Flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger (ummm they are gingerbread men! Lol), cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.

Flour and Spices for Spiced Gingerbread men cookies

In your mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended. Add molasses and vanilla. YUM! (I love the smell of molasses… I know…weird!) 

With your mixer on low-speed, gradually add in the dry ingredients until blended and smooth.

Gather the dough with your hands into a ball. Divide it in half and shape each half into a round disk and wrap each half with plastic wrap. Refrigerate up to 4 days.

TIP: Rather than wrapping your dough into a big ball and chilling, I’ve found that flattening it into a “disc” makes it easier to roll out when you’re ready to create your cookies!

Spiced Gingerbread men cookie dough

When you are ready to bake these amazing little men…bring the dough to semi-cold room temperature.

TIP: Don’t let them get all the way to room temp or the dough will be sticky and difficult to work with.

Roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick on a well floured surface.

I use my dough disc. Now this another one of those products that I seriously could not live without! I honestly think EVERY kitchen should have one! 

I use my dough disc about 500 times a year…easy! It makes rolling out any dough or pie crust a…well…a piece of cake! A little flour on the cloth cover and nothing sticks to it and things just roll out with ease!

If you don’t have a dough disc just be sure to flour your surface well, or you can roll it between two sheets of wax paper!

Spiced Gingerbread Men Cookie dough rolled out on a floured dough disc

Once your dough is rolled out you can begin to cut out your Gingerbread Men. I have a baby ginger man who I use in the little spots in-between.

TIP: When using cookie cutters be sure to wiggle them slightly so that you know you’ve cut all around the cutter.

Spiced Gingerbread men on dough disc being cut out

Transfer the cookies onto a baking sheet that is lined with a silicone baking sheet or parchment paper. This will keep those “hunk-a hunk-a burning loves” from sticking to the pan.

Bake one sheet at a time for 7–9 minutes.

Let cookies rest on baking sheet for about 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Otherwise, their little legs and arms might fall off…and we don’t want that!

Spiced Gingerbread men cut out on baking sheets lined with silicone mats

Once cookies are completely cool, decorate as desired.

I made Royal icing using Wilton Meringue powder! I love royal icing for Sugar cookies and Gingerbread men! It dries hard and is so easy to work with.

I also bought the Wilton plastic frosting bags so that I could just “toss” them when I was done! Snip off the tip of the plastic bag and you are good to go! Made decorating a breeze! I’ve included a link to them in the recipe card.

I placed them on my cooling rack till the frosting was dried then I placed them in an airtight container with wax paper between the layers to keep them nice and neat!

TIP: These freeze really well! (My gingerbread men look like they’ve been using tanning lotion in this photo! Gads the lighting was off… Sorry folks! They really are not orange!)

Spiced Gingerbread men on cooling rack decorated with royal icing

Aren’t they darling and so festive?!!! I absolutely love these little guys and how yummy they are! Nothing better than a good-looking de-licious man! (wink-wink) They go perfect with a nice big tall glass of cold milk!

Since they are a crispy gingerbread cookie they are the optimal dunking cookie! Who hasn’t wanted to shove a man’s head down a glass of milk during the holidays and then bite it off?!!!  (Oh come on! I can’t be the only one!!! Lol)

Plate full of Spiced Gingerbread men.

Alright…in all seriousness these spicy fella’s have to be part of your holiday cookie baking list!

Then you and all the twin brother’s can sit back and watch a Hallmark Christmas Movie! (Pssst… I hear these guys don’t mind “chick flicks”!)

Here are a five other Favorite Holiday Cookie Recipes

Happy Baking my Nest Friends! The printable recipe is right below! Let me know how your holiday baking is going? I always love hearing from you!

Happy Holiday Nesting!

Norines Photo and signature
Yield: 24 cookies

Spiced Gingerbread Men Cookies

Plate full of Spiced Gingerbread men

Festive adorable warmly spiced gingerbread men ready for the "big guy" to stop by and visit!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 9 minutes 7 seconds
Additional Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 24 minutes 7 seconds

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
  2. In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended. Add molasses and vanilla. With your mixer on low speed, gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
  3. Gather dough with your hands into a ball and divide dough in half. Shape each half into a round disk and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate up to 4 days. Let dough come to a cool room temperature before using.
  4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
  5. Roll each portion of dough to 1/4 inch thick on a floured dough disc or well floured surface. (You can place it between two sheets of wax paper to roll out too if you'd like) Cut out shapes. Transfer to your lined baking sheets.
  6. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-9 minutes. Let cookies rest for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Once cookies are completely cool, decorate as desired.

Royal Icing

  1. 1 Tablespoon meringue powder with 2 cups of powdered sugar and 3-5 Tablespoons water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat icing until smooth and peaks form, about 5 minutes. Add more water to thin, if necessary. Separate icing into batches and tint with food coloring. Using piping bags or squeeze bottles with fine tips, pipe icing onto cooled cookies.
  2. Store in air tight container up to 1 week or freeze till ready to use.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

24 cookies

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 130Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 15mgSodium: 100mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 1gSugar: 11gProtein: 2g

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