Gingerbread Men Recipe

The golden biscuit. The warm smell of ginger coming from the oven. The little iced smile. The cute buttons down the middle. The moment someone says, “Can I decorate one?” before they have even cooled properly.

Gingerbread men are nostalgic and wonderfully Christmassy.

At Molly’s Bakehouse, gingerbread men have always felt like one of those festive biscuits that people LOVE! Whether they are baked at home with family or hand-iced as a personalised Christmas gift, they have a way of making the season feel warmer.

This homemade gingerbread men recipe is inspired by the ingredients we love in our Bakehouse gingerbread biscuits: plain flour, light brown sugar, salted butter, golden syrup, eggs, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg and ground cloves.

This recipe is designed for home bakers especially. It uses the same style of ingredients we love for a warm, nostalgic gingerbread biscuit with the perfect snap.

Ingredients

This home-style recipe makes around 18–24 gingerbread men, depending on the size of your cutter.

- plain flour
- baking powder
- ginger powder
- nutmeg powder
- ground cloves
- salted butter, chilled and cubed
- light brown sugar
- whole egg
- golden syrup

For decorating:

- Royal icing (in your chosen colours: we use beige, red, black & white)
- Small sweets or sprinkles
- Ribbon, biscuit bags or gift tags if gifting

Why we use these Ingredients

The flavour of gingerbread comes from more than ginger alone.

The light brown sugar gives the biscuit warmth, depth & sweetness.
The golden syrup brings that familiar golden colour and again, gentle sweetness.
The salted butter adds richness.
The ginger gives the biscuit its classic festive flavour.
The nutmeg and cloves add that deeper Christmas warmth to the biscuit.

Together, they create a biscuit that tastes lightly spiced and VERY, very festive.

How to Make Homemade Gingerbread Men: Step-By-Step

1. Mix the wet ingredients

Add the eggs and salted butter alongside the light brown sugar to a large mixing bowl.

Stir everything together starting on a low speed and increasing to a high speed after the sugar has incorporated. Finish whisking when the butter has fully blended in and no butter shards are visible. 

2. Incorporate the dry ingredients 

Add the baking powder, plain flour, ginger powder, nutmeg powder and ground cloves to the wet mixture.

Starting on speed 1, slowly mix the dry ingredients in and increase to speed 2/3 when you are happy that flour isn't going to erupt into an aggressive flour cloud. Mix on this moderate speed until the dough is peeling away nicely from the sides of the mixing bowl.

3. Chill the dough

Wrap the dough and chill it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Chilling makes the dough easier to roll, helps the gingerbread men hold their shape, and gives you cleaner edges once baked.

If you have ever baked gingerbread men that came out looking more like gingerbread clouds, warm dough is usually the reason.

4. Roll and cut

Preheat your oven to:

175°C / 155°C fan / Gas Mark 4

Lightly flour your work surface and roll the dough to around 5mm thick.

Cut out your gingerbread men and carefully lift them onto a lined baking tray, leaving a little room between each biscuit.

5. Bake, Bake, Bake!

Bake until the gingerbread men are lightly golden around the edges.

They will firm up as they cool, so do not panic if they feel slightly soft when they first come out of the oven.

6. Cool completely before decorating

Leave the gingerbread men on the tray for a few minutes, then move them onto a wire rack.

Let them cool completely before adding any icing.

Warm biscuits and icing are not friends. The icing will run, the details will blur, and your beautifully planned gingerbread faces will quickly become less charming than intended.

Decorating Gingerbread Men

This is the part everyone LOVES... as long as the biccies have baked okay!

You can keep your gingerbread men super traditional with a simple smile, buttons and a little piped trim, or you can turn them into full Christmas characters with scarves, bows, jumpers, hats, names and tiny festive details.

For a traditional gingerbread man, try:

Two eyes
A little smile
Three buttons
A bow tie
White icing cuffs on the arms and legs

For a more personalised Christmas biscuit, try:

Personalisation across the middle OR a short festive message
A red or green bow tie
A Christmas jumper design
A small gift tag biscuit beside it

Personalised Gingerbread Man Biscuits from Molly’s Bakehouse

Of course, not every December leaves time for rolling pins, icing bags and flour across the kitchen.

If you love the idea of gingerbread men but want something finished (how very Blue Peter), our personalised gingerbread man biscuits are hand-iced and ready to go.

Each biscuit can be personalised with a name and finished with festive detail, making it perfect for children, friends, family, teachers, clients, colleagues or anyone who deserves something more thoughtful than the usual Christmas treat.

Our gingerbread man biscuits are part of our wider Christmas biscuit range, which includes hand-iced festive designs such as Christmas trees, stockings, robins, penguins, reindeer, candy canes, snowflakes, festive jumpers, nutcrackers and personalised message biscuits.

Homemade or Hand-Iced, Gingerbread Men Belong at Christmas

Whether you bake them at home or choose a personalised biscuit gift from Molly’s Bakehouse, gingerbread men have a way of making Christmas.... well, Christmas.

So why not get stuck in this festive season!