07 Nov Gingerbread Men
By Stevies Pantry
Simple, tasty Gingerbread dough mix that you can make any time of the year, especially Christmas time. A perfect recipe to keep the children entertained during the holidays and you can even have a best-decorated gingerbread men competition.
The dough will keep in the fridge for at least 2 weeks, so you can get it out when you need to entertain the kids or bake up something quick for dessert or guests.
Other ideas – make Gingerbread women, gingerbread houses, hanging tree decorations, pretty much anything you like! This dough is super easy, you only need a large saucepan and a traditional wooden spoon.
Step by step…
Step 1
Prepare your ingredients
Step 2
Add into a large saucepan the sugar, butter, molasses (black treacle) and all of the spices and melt over a medium-low heat. Once melted, stir together to make sure everything is mixed, then bring to the boil. Remove from the heat once the mixture has reached boiling point.
Step 3
Take the saucepan off of the heat and beat in the bicarbonate of soda with a whisk. You will see the mixture multiply in size whilst the bicarbonate of soda is reacting with the rest of the mixture. Leave the mixture to cool slightly (approx 5/10 mins).
Step 4
Once the mixture has cooled slightly, sift in the flour and the salt in two batches and mix together with a wooden spoon. It will begin to form a dough-like consistency.
Step 5
Add in the beaten egg to the mixture and continue to mix together with a wooden spoon until the egg has mostly mixed in.
Step 6
Turn out the dough onto a clean surface and knead the mixture together for a minute. Try not to over-knead as this will cause the dough to spread out during
baking. Then wrap in cling film and allow to rest in the fridge for at least an hour before rolling the dough out.
Steps 7 & 8
Once the dough has chilled, prepare your work area.
I roll out my biscuit dough in between
two sheets of parchment paper and I use spacers to make sure that my dough is rolled out to exactly the same thickness so that the gingerbread men are all the same size and thickness.
If you want to roll out on to a floured surface instead, try to use the flour sparingly so that the dough does not absorb more flour than needed, as this will alter the taste and texture of the dough.
Steps 9 & 10
Once your dough is rolled out, use your cutter to cut out the shapes and place neatly onto a baking tray. Ensure that
there is at least 1cm in between each gingerbread man so that they do not stick together during baking. I use a silicone mat to bake all of my biscuits on, however, using parchment paper is just as effective.
Steps 11 & 12
Once your gingerbread men have cooled, you are ready for the fun bit – to decorate them.
I tend to use the classic gingerbread man decoration, which involves black, red and white icing.
I use number 2 round piping tips so that I get a delicate, smooth line of piping. If you don’t have any piping tips, just cut the hole in your piping bag fairly small, so you can see if that’s the size thickness of the icing you would like, if not, you can make the hole slightly bigger.
For the Royal Icing, I simply add water to a ready-made Royal Icing powder, which is so much easier than making your own. Make sure your consistency is not too runny.
Using a steady hand, pipe on the details, in any design you like. The kids will love this bit, and I’m sure they’ll make some wonderful, creative gingerbread men.
Step 13
Once you have piped on the details, set aside to dry or eat straight away.
If you make these gingerbread men, tag me in any social media so I can see your wonderful creations, I love seeing my recipes being used.
Happy Baking!