Gingerbread men to bake with kids (easy recipe)
Prep: 30 min · Cook: 11 min · Makes: about 25 large or 40 small biscuits · For:
Gingerbread people are the classic Christmas bake to make with children. The dough is easy to handle, it smells wonderful, and every child can decorate their own little figure with a face, buttons and a scarf.
This recipe uses honey and brown sugar for a gently spiced, not-too-sharp flavour that children love. Bake them thin for crisp biscuits or a little thicker for a softer bite.
Tips for little bakers
- Roll between two sheets of baking paper so the dough does not stick and you need less flour.
- Cut shapes close together so you have fewer scraps to re-roll.
- Use a small sandwich bag with a tiny corner snipped off as a piping bag for the icing.
Ideas
- Christmas tree decorations: poke a hole with a straw before baking and thread ribbon through once they are cold.
- Name biscuits: pipe each guest's name on a gingerbread person to use as a place card.
- A snowy forest: cut trees in different sizes and dust them with icing sugar.
Ingredients
- 350 g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves (optional)
- a pinch of salt
- 125 g cold butter, in cubes
- 150 g soft light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 4 tbsp runny honey (about 80 g)
- 125 g icing sugar and 1 tbsp water or lemon juice, for the icing
- small sweets or sugar pearls for buttons (optional)
Method
- Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the cold butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Children are very good at this.
- Stir in the sugar. Beat the egg with the honey, pour it in and mix until the dough comes together. Knead briefly into a smooth ball.
- Flatten the dough into two discs, wrap them and chill for 30 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4) and line two baking trays with baking paper.
- Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 5 mm thick. Cut out gingerbread people, stars and trees and lay them on the trays with a little space between.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes until just firm and slightly darker at the edges. They harden as they cool. Leave on the tray for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack.
- Mix the icing sugar with the water to a thick, pipeable icing. Pipe on faces, buttons and scarves once the biscuits are completely cold, and stick on sweets while the icing is wet.
Questions
Can I make the dough ahead?
Yes. Wrapped, it keeps for 3 days in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer. Let it soften for 10 minutes before rolling.
How long do they keep?
In an airtight tin, about 2 weeks. They get a little softer after a few days, which many people prefer.
Can babies eat them?
Honey is not suitable for babies under 1 year. For toddlers, skip small sweets and sugar pearls, which can be a choking risk.
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