Learn how to make soft and chewy Spiced Gingerbread Men from scratch. These buttery ginger cookies are so easy to make and decorate – perfect for holiday baking!
Perfect Gingerbread Cookies 🎄
I make these Gingerbread Cookies every year, without fail. Soft and chewy Gingerbread Cookies made completely from scratch. Filled to the brim with holiday spices and decorated with a simple 2-ingredient icing, these cookies are the ultimate holiday treat.
They can be rolled and cut into any shape you like, so it’s a great activity for the kids!
Without a doubt, one of my favourite Christmas treats is gingerbread. I can eat it by the handful. I’ve already shared my favourite Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies with you and my Gingerbread Loaf Cake, but this year, it’s all about classic Gingerbread Men.
You can make these cookies using just a handful of regular ingredients. They get their delicious caramel flavour from butter and brown sugar, and you can use either golden syrup or molasses for their classic gingerbread taste.
Next comes the spices. I like to use a blend of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. It gives the cookies a little bit of a bite and oodles of flavour. If you don’t have nutmeg or cloves on hand, you can stick to just ginger and cinnamon.
If you like quite a kick, pump up the ginger to a full tablespoon. I LOVE them like this but if you are sharing with the kids, take it down to just 2 teaspoons as per the recipe. Each to their own!
Perhaps the best part about these cookies, is that instead of using royal icing, I just a simple 2-ingredient icing. It takes only seconds to make and it firms up just like royal icing. A few red and green M&M’s and you’re done!
MORE CHRISTMAS COOKIES TO TRY:
- Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
- Chocolate Molasses Cookies
- Peppermint Chocolate Cookies
- White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
- Chewy Snickerdoodle Cookies
- M&M Christmas Cookies
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for more amazing recipe ideas.
Let's Bake
Spiced Gingerbread Men
Soft and chewy gingerbread cookies made from scratch.
Ingredients
Gingerbread cookies
- 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 135 grams (3/4 cup) brown sugar
- 160 grams (1/2 cup) golden syrup or molasses
- 1 egg yolk
- 315 grams (2 and 1/4 cup) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Easy icing
- 125 grams (1 cup) icing or powdered sugar
- 1–2 tablespoons warm water
- Red and green M&M’s
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the butter and sugar using an electric beater until combined. Add molasses and egg yolk. Beat again until a creamy mixture forms.
- Sift in flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Beat briefly until a cookie dough starts to form.
- Sprinkle your bench with some extra flour and then knead the dough for a minute or two, just until it comes together to form a smooth ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and pop in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Line two cookie or oven trays with baking paper.
- Generously flour your bench and roll out your dough using a rolling pin. Dust your rolling pin with flour as you go to prevent the dough from sticking.
- Cut out shapes using cookie cutters and gently place the cookies onto the prepared trays. Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- Once the cookies are completely cool, place the icing sugar in a small bowl and add the water, one tablespoon at a time, and stir until it forms a smooth paste.
- Add the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small nozzle or use a plastic sandwich bag if you don’t have a piping bag. Decorate your gingerbread men with icing and add a few M&M’s on top. Leave each cookie for about 10 minutes for the icing to set.
Nutrition Information
This recipe was first published on Sweetest Menu in December 2015.
Lyn says
This was a lovely recipe. I made a batch but substituted Cardamom for the nutmeg, as couldn’t find it in spice cupboard and also cut the ginger down to 1 teaspoon as it was for the granddaughters to make their gingerbread men. Left dough in fridge for a few hours as the weather was so hot.
The girls made the gingerbread men, stars, Christmas trees and angels. They then used the Queen Icing pens to decorate. It kept them well entertained on a hot Sydney day!
And by the way they were delicious and will definitely use this same recipe again.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Aw love that Lyn! So glad you enjoyed them. Thank you for your lovely review!
Debra says
Very nice. Easy to make, and roll out. Did add one more teaspoon of ginger.
★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Debra!
Alina says
Hello. I tried this recipe and it turned out very well. I love the taste and how it retained it’s shape.
The only thing I noticed is that it was soft & chewy when eaten immediately after baking, but the next day they were hard although I kept them in an airtight container.
Kindly advise what could have happened.
Also would it be better to use melted butter? And an additional whole egg?
Thank you 🙂
★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Alina, it’s very normal for cookies to firm up once they cool. If you want a softer cookie, try rolling them out slightly thicker and baking them for a few minutes less.
Julia Jessica Downing says
Can u freeze left over gingerbread men mixture
Jessica Holmes says
Yes you can.
doobah says
Great recipe!
★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them!
Katie says
Amazing recipe!
Only thing is i made the dough and it was falling apart so i had to add a bit of water so it stuck better. But otherwise i loved it and so did the family!
★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Katie, so glad you enjoyed them. If it was a bit dry, perhaps you slightly over measured the flour? I find it much more accurate to go by weight than cups when measuring dry ingredients. But glad it worked out!
Katie says
Thank you Jessica.
That is a good idea weighing it. I will keep that in mind for next time.😊
Maggie says
Tastes amazing. I’ve saved this recipe for the future.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed them Maggie!
Helen says
Hi do I use sweet cinnamon or plain I can’t wait to make these
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Helen, just regular ground cinnamon for this one.
Helen says
Thank you Jessica
Michelle says
These were soooooo good and delicious, but gone within minutes!! I think I did something wrong as they all rose in the oven, but then went flat and deflated when I took them out. I used plain flour and bicarb of soda as I couldn’t find baking soda. Are these different? Still tasted amazing, just looked a bit sorry for themselves!! Thank you so much for such a great recipe.
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Hey Michelle! So glad you enjoyed them! They do expand a little in the oven and then relax slightly as they cool. Here in Australia, bicarbonate of soda is the same as baking soda so I don’t think that would have made any difference. Perhaps you slightly underbaked them? X
Catherine says
Perfect gingerbread men! I’ve used a few different recipes but this is by far the best. I made these today with my 4 year old daughter and we loved baking and eating them! Thank you!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
So happy to hear that Catherine!
Lorna says
Hi! Can I make the dough the night before and make the cookies the next day?
Jessica Holmes says
Absolutely Lorna! The dough keeps well in the fridge for a few days. Just let it thaw for a few minutes before trying to roll it out ☺️
Ashleigh says
Seriously delicious Ginger bread men. They were golden, chewy and so much fun to decorate!! This recipe is a keeper for a New family tradition!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Yes! Love hearing that Ashleigh!
Grace Wilkinson says
These are so delicious. Perfect amount of ginger & spice & they’re so soft and chewy!!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Yaaay! So glad you enjoyed them Grace!
Vicky T says
Yummy delicious recipe!!
We did these today, thx!!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Aww so glad you enjoyed them Vicky!!
Jo-Ann says
I would love to make these as gifts. How long do they keep?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Jo-Ann, these cookies make for wonderful gifts! They keep for up to 5 days.
Josh says
Hands down, my favourite cookies!
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Amazing! Thanks Josh!
Stephanie says
These are so adorable! I’ve only made gingerbread cookies once, but they weren’t a traditional recipe like this one (they we’re orange-gingerbread cookies and while me and my immediate family gobbled them up, they weren’t exactly the first cookies to go come Christmas day.) Anyway, I’ve been looking for a great gingerbread cookie recipe and these look absolutely perfect! A little note to anyone wondering about Golden Syrup: it’s surprisingly easy to find in the US, (most of us just don’t know of it’s delicious existence) most big chain grocery stores carry it. If your store has an international aisle, it’s probably there! I use it all the time to make homemade flapjacks (not pancakes, but soft granola bars for my American friends). So good! 🙂
Jessica Holmes says
Thank you so much Stephanie! And that is SO good to know about the golden syrup because I get asked that all the time! Plus I have an awesome caramel fudge recipe that uses it and I haven’t found a substitute yet. Golden syrup is pretty great! 🙂
Clementine says
Sweet babies! These are so cute!!
Jessica Holmes says
Aw thank you!
Melissa says
OOOH YUM! We used to make these when I was a kid, too. I love all the spices you have in here! I totally want to make these now! (What is golden syrup, by the way?)
Jessica Holmes says
Thanks Melissa! Oh golden syrup is the best! It’s a sugar syrup, similar to treacle but its light and sweet. Next time you visit Australia, you’ll have to pop some in your suitcase!