Gingerbread men

Gingerbread men: a Christmas baking staple

Gingerbread men cookies are the ultimate Christmas treat. Flavoured with golden syrup and spices, our homemade recipe is soft on the inside featuring a slightly crisp edge and decorated with icing sugar and chocolate M&M’s. 

While the first records of gingerbread can be traced back to ancient times, it wasn’t until the 17th century that gingerbread became associated with Christmas and holiday traditions. It is said Queen Elizabeth I gifted dinner guests with gingerbread figures. Other accounts say that spices like ginger helped people keep warm in the winter during the holiday seasons in the northern hemisphere. Since then, gingerbread and baking with ginger have evolved, with different cultures creating their regional variations, such as lebkuchen in Germany and pepparkakor in Sweden. 

For more sweet treats and edible gifts to make this Christmas season, try our ideas for Christmas rocky road and shortbread Christmas trees, or see our collection of Christmas desserts for recipe inspiration. 

Creating cute decorated gingerbread men is so easy

When making these biscuits, it’s crucial to follow a few steps to achieve the best results. Use an electric mixer to beat the butter, brown sugar and golden syrup until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has turned pale and creamy. When all the remaining ingredients have been combined in this recipe for gingerbread men, knead the dough until smooth and cover in it plastic wrap before placing it in the fridge to chill. When the dough is ready to roll, it should be slightly firm in texture as anything too soft will make it difficult for the cookie shape to hold its form. Be sure to lightly flour your work surface as well as your cookie cutter and rolling pin to prevent the dough from sticking.

How to make gingerbread men: get the kids involved!

Now comes the fun part: decorating! Use our royal icing recipe to create the eyes and mouth, and get creative with different chocolate buttons, sprinkles and coloured icing as clothes and accessories to personalise and decorate the gingerbread men. 

The beauty of baking your gingerbread cookies at home means you can flex your creativity. Create gingerbread ice cream sandwiches by adding ice cream between two biscuits, bake a giant gingerbread person or give your gingerbread people an Aussie twist by decorating with bikinis and board shorts. You could even experiment with different flavour profiles by adding chocolate, maple syrup or pureed pumpkin to the dough. 

Fun ways to serve Christmas gingerbread men

Homemade gingerbread men make a great edible gift idea for the festive holiday season. Simply place them in cellophane bags and decorate them with a bow, or place them in paper boxes wrapped in twine. Assemble a family of gingerbread men on a serving platter at the centre of your dessert table, or you could even set up a DIY decorating gingerbread station at your Christmas party and let your guests have fun creating their masterpiece. 

For more gift ideas, create these Tim Tam, Baileys and Iced Vovo truffles, or this perfect Christmas snack, reindeer food.