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Ginger Bread Men Recipe

Ginger Bread Men cooked
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Ginger Bread Men

Easy to make, with lots for the kids to do by themselves. We made gingerbread men and a gingerbread house. You let the kids decide what shape they want their ginger bread.

In comparison with most other gingerbread recipe pages, our pictures look slightly amateur. We make no apologies for this at all. The gingerbread men on this page were mainly crafted, decorated and baked by my six year old! Great fun was had by all of us involved in cooking this recipe.

INGREDIENTS

350g / 12oz plain flour

175g / 6oz light soft brown sugar

100g / 4oz butter

1 medium egg

4 tablespoons of golden syrup

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 and a half teaspoons of ground ginger - see Advice for Ginger Bread Men below

Sweet, small decorations

Nutrition information per portion
PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes
 
COOKING TIME: 15 minutes
 
DIFFICULTY: Easy
 
FREEZE: No
 
SERVINGS: 12 (various sizes)
 
EQUIPMENT: Rolling pin, man shaped pastry cutter, scales, baking tray

PREPARATION

You will need to measure out the ingredients or at least help your child to do so. The pastry will be easier to mix if the butter has been removed from the fridge half an hour before starting mixing.

Lightly break up the egg with a fork.

ADVICE FOR GINGER BREAD MEN

Everyone has their own idea of what makes the perfect gingerbread men, especially children. This recipe has been designed so that not only can your kids prepare and cook most of the recipes but also so that they will enjoy eating them.

Two variables can be easily adjusted to make them exactly how you and your kids prefer. First, we have used only a relatively small amount of ground ginger so that younger kids enjoy the taste. But it's fine to double or even triple the amount of ground ginger if you want to make a stronger tasting biscuit.

The second variable is the thickness you roll out the pastry. We suggest a thickness of about 5mm. This gives a biscuit which has a little crunch to it but is also reasonably soft in the middle. To get a crisper gingerbread man simply roll out the pastry thinner, or thicker if you want a softer biscuit.

This recipe was written by David Marks. Recipe tested out on Anthony and Simon, our resident food tasters!

RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1

Put the flour, butter, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda in a mixing bowl. Mix it all together with fingertips until crumbly. Add sugar, syrup and egg and mix until it forms a firm pastry mix.

Ginger bread pastry rolled into a ball
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Ginger bread pastry rolled into a ball

STEP 2

Pre-heat the oven to 190°C / fan 170°C / 375°F / Gas Mark 5.

Using the rolling pin, roll out the pastry to about 5mm thick. Make sure the surface and the rolling pin are well dusted with flour. Cut out the shapes with a knife and/or pastry cutter.

Gingerbread pastry rolled out
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Ginger Bread pastry rolled out

STEP 3

Place the cut out pastry on a greased and non-stick baking tray, each 2cm apart to allow for them spreading out.

Put the baking trays in the pre-heated oven (see step 2). Remove after 15 minutes (check after 10 minutes to ensure it doesn't burn).

Ginger bread men cooked
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Ginger bread men cooked

STEP 4

Find a selection of anything you like to decorate the gingerbread men and house.

We used cake icing with raisins, chocolate chips and edible silver balls.

Decorations for Ginger Bread men
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Decorations for Ginger Bread men

STEP 5

Put a blob of icing on the gingerbread men where you want a decoration to stick. The kids enjoy this decoration stage best.

Cooked and decorated Ginger Bread Men
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Cooked and decorated Ginger Bread Men

27 RATINGS GIVEN - AVERAGE 4.5 star rating
4 star rating
16 September 2013
From: Kim
Brilliant, I cooked 6 lots and got packs of writing icing and give away to my nieces and nephews at exams they loved them.
5 star rating
14 Mar 2012
From: Amanda
Fantastic, easy and so yummy.
4 star rating
8 June 2012
From: Nom Nom
Made this recipe for my friends boxing day party and used it for making adult gingerbread men with cutters my friend brought me for Christmas. They went with in about 5 mins one the amusing shapes the cutters had done and two they tasted so good. :) Thank you for this recipe will be making them again for my friends bday this time as shes asked me to. :)
5 star rating
8 June 2012
From: Priya
Awesome !!!!!!!
5 star rating
3 July 2012
From: Fat Pig
Absolutely amazing! they always come out great! nice and chewy not all snappy, and taste divine. I normally base how much golden syrup I add on the consistency of the mix as I found 4tblspn is a bit too much, although it's difficult to measure golden syrup anyway! Use this recipe every time! Love it!!!
5 star rating
6 October 2012
From: The Girls
Fabulous recipe thanks, the girls loved helping mummy and daddy with these. And we all enjoyed eating them.
5 star rating
9 October
From: Debbie
Best gingerbread recipe I have ever used! LOVELY results- nice and chewy just as we like them, just making the second batch now with my 3 year old.
5 star rating
9 October 2012
From: Mama Monty
Love this recipe - so simple but perfect ginger bread men are the result!!
5 star rating
9 October 2012
From: Kerry
Going to make this for my food GCSE exam practiced with it yesterday and they were fabulous! A great recipe.
5 star rating
12 October
From: Ginger Ninja
Easy to cook. They formed a nice dough. Recipe was a bit to sweet so halved the sugar and golden syrup, then added icing. Everyone loved them. Taste amazing!!
5 star rating
14 October 2012
From: Lucy
Wonderful gingerbread - simple recipe that worked perfectly for us. Huge fun for my three year old and 20 month old. Thank you. Will do again at Christmas.
5 star rating
20 October 2012
From: Lee, Honey and Summer
Made this recipe time and time again!! The gingerbread are eaten before I can wash up! They are also good to take to bake day as everyone else brings cupcakes, we are making some to take to our brownie mcmillan coffee morning tomorrow.
5 star rating
7 November 2012
From: Monica
I used 4oz of sugar and only two tablespoons of syrup and popped choc chips on before cooking as buttons. Scrummy :-)
5 star rating
9 November 2012
From: Snowman
Awesome really good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5 star rating
13 November 2012
From: Tania
Loved this recipe never made gingerbread before and wasnt too hard to make. The taste was nice too I dont normally eat gingerbread but tried it and it was lovely. Thanks.
5 star rating
16 November 2012
From: Bella Smyth
If you turn them around once cooked they make good rainedeer heads for xmas.
5 star rating
26 November 2012
From: Tori
Love this recipe, have been making it for over a year now. Work colleagues keep pestering me to make more!! Now all I need is a child to come and do the messy bits!!
5 star rating
26 November 2012
From: Mummawalker
I just keeeeep coming back to this page with my kids! We love this gingerbread :p
5 star rating
28 November 2012
From: Dee
So helpful and easy to follow. Thanks!
5 star rating
29 November 2012
From: Jane
Brill recipe, grandchildren love making it and it tastes really good. Thanks
5 star rating
3 January 2013
From: Pacna Land
This is a good recipe for people who are want to make gingerbread quickly without any fuss. It has a very good taste.
5 star rating
31 January 2013
From: Max
Really easy, im 12 and after i cooked them they were great thank you
5 star rating
21 March 2013
From: Jayshree
Best gingerbread recipe i have tried everybody loves them. Thanks for sharing!
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