Here’s a gingerbread cookie recipe that is ready to become your new family tradition. It’s a recipe that’s made for making memories. It’s been mine to make with my kids, my nephews and nieces, for more than 20 years. I love it because it couldn’t be any easier, they taste delicious, and for such a ‘small’ recipe, it makes a surprising number of cookies.

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Although this recipe is a Christmas tradition, I also make it at other times of the year, and just like my Ginger Shortbread, instead of using cookie cutters, I cut this into rectangles, and dip the ends in chocolate. Just an idea!

Did I also mention, that you don’t need any fancy equipment, just a pot, a bowl, a rolling pin, and a shaped cutter are all that’s required.

The easy Gingerbread men recipe

If you want some extra tips scroll down below the recipe, otherwise let’s bake!

Gingerbread men cookies

Delicious, quick and easy

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 12

Course afternoon tea, baking, gift giving, Snack

Cuisine American, english

Servings 22 cookies

Ingredients

1 ¾ cup flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
4 tbsp butter (50 grams)
¼ cup treacle
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tspn baking soda
1 egg lightly beaten

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Prep two trays with baking paper.
Sift flour and ginger into a mixing bowl.
Pop butter, treacle and brown sugar into a pot. Stir over a low heat until melted and combined. Turn off the heat and stir in baking soda.
Add your liquid ingredients into your mixing bowl (with dry ingredients) and mix lightly, then add the beaten egg and mix well until it comes together into a soft dough.
Transfer your dough to a lightly floured board / bench and knead for a minute until smooth.
Roll your dough out (on your floured surface) to a thickness of about 1/8" (or 3mm). Using a gingerbread person cutter (or any shape you wish) cut out shapes and transfer to your baking tray. Re-roll leftover dough until all the dough has been used.
Bake one tray at a time, for 12-15 minutes or until golden.
If desired, ice with royal icing.

Keyword christmas, gingerbread men

Every time I make it I’m also surprised by how many cookies it makes.

As you’ll see in the ingredients above, these are quite small quantities. When you roll out and make your first ‘cuts’, you’ll get a good number of gingerbread men. Then you’ll gather up all the off cuts, knead them together for a second, and roll out again, ready for some more cuts. I end up doing this three or four times – it’s like the dough that keeps on giving. 🤣

The finished batch of gingerbread men cookies made using the super easy gingerbread men recipe

To help show this better, I made each cut with a different cutter. So in this photo you’ll see gingerbread men, Christmas trees, and candy canes. The gingerbread men were made on the first roll, the trees on the second, and the candy canes on the third. I got 27 delicious cookies from this one batch.

After you’ve baked your cookies

Eat them while they’re warm (how could you resist), or wait until they’re cooled, and either ice, or dip in chocolate. If you’re going to ice them, I recommend using royal icing. It’s super simple to make, and then pipe on to your cookies – no experience necessary. But if you don’t want to make it, just use something like this cookie icing.

The Christmas trees are even easier to ice if like me you have few skills in this area!

Once you’ve iced them, you can decorate them. You can use edible decorations from the supermarket, or things like Smarties for their buttons. This is a part kids really love to take part in – and may go a little overboard. But hey, it’s Christmas!

Gingerbread trees made from the gingerbread men recipe

As I mentioned in the beginning, these are cookies made for making memories. Here’s a photo I found from a few years ago, when my nephews from England were visiting. I love sharing my love of baking with them, and kids always love the experience. Not to mention getting to eat the spoils at the end! And there’s nothing easier for first time bakers than this super easy Gingerbread men recipe. Make whatever shapes you like, just enjoy all of the processes, and moments.

But wait, there’s more!

Cookie in a jar gift idea

These also work well as a ‘cookie in a jar’ gift. Simple to put together, just layer all the dry ingredients into a jar, then attach a label. If you want it to be even cooler, you can tie a shape cutter onto it. You could personalise these for each child too, choosing a shape that each of them would love. Imagine a plane, a butterfly, dinosaur etc. (THIS set is perfect, as it has heaps, or this one if you’re looking for Christmas themed shapes.)

If you’d like a copy of the printable label, subscribe below and I’ll send it through.

I’d love to hear how your first experience baking these with your family goes, so make sure you come back and comment below, or share a photo on my fb page.