This is my ultimate gingerbread men recipe with sticky, chewy ginger bits, generous amounts of spice, and dark muscovado sugar. They’re delightfully gingery, wonderfully chewy, and with royal icing piped on, they make the cutest Christmas treat! Best of all, the dough is easy to cut out, which means the gingerbread men hold their shape. If it were appropriate to bake these all year round, I would…they truly are that delicious!
Baking these gingerbread men is a Christmas baking tradition I look forward to every year. This is mostly because I love sharing them with family and friends, whose reactions make every bit of effort totally worth it! Although I do need to be careful baking these around my husband. He is a gingerbread fiend and will easily polish off the whole tray out of the oven before I’ve had a chance to pipe on some royal icing! But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t join him!
Inspiration for this Gingerbread Recipe
This ultimate gingerbread men recipe has a bit of a backstory. My husband and I did a road-trip of the U.K. for our honeymoon. And one of the places we visited was Sarah Nelson’s Grasmere Gingerbread shop in the gorgeous Lakes District. And honestly, their claim to baking the world’s best gingerbread is totally legitimate. We could not believe gingerbread could be that unbelievably delicious! We were quite literally in awe. Their gingerbread was a chewy, fudgy cross between a biscuit and a cake, and was the definition of moreish. We even took a few boxes back home with us!
And although I’ve been making gingerbread for many years, I was determined fine-tune my recipe now that I knew what peak gingerbread tasted like! So this ultimate gingerbread men recipe is not a replica of Grasmere gingerbread, nor does it try to be. It’s simply my take on chewy, sticky, soft, generously spiced gingerbread that’s fudgy while warm, and unapologetically moreish. Dotted with bits of crystallised/candied ginger, it’s a recipe I’m immensely proud of as a homage to Grasmere!
Ingredients in this Ultimate Gingerbread Men Recipe
This recipe uses the basics like plain flour, an egg, unsalted butter, bicarb soda, and vanilla extract. You’ll also need molasses (this is the one I buy from Coles). Do not use blackstrap molasses! It’s much more bitter than regular molasses.
For the sugar, I use muscovado sugar (available at Coles or Woolies).
Muscovado sugar is a minimally refined, dark sugar that has a lot of molasses content! It’s got a sticky, almost wet texture and tastes like a dark caramel or toffee. The flavour profile is much more deep and complex than plain ‘sweet’ and it gives the most delicious chewiness to these gingerbread men because of the extra moisture content. That’s why I really do think muscovado sugar is the absolute best to use in gingerbread! The biscuits stay soft and fudgy without being sickly sweet!
For the spices, I like to create depth of flavour. Ginger and cinnamon are a perfect start, but don’t quite round out that Christmas spice flavour!
So apart from ginger (and a lot of it – they’re gingerbread men after all!), and cinnamon, you’ll need nutmeg, clove, allspice, salt, and black pepper. Salt is a flavour enhancer, so it brings out the flavour of all the other ingredients and balances the sweetness in the gingerbread nicely. And the hint of black pepper complements the kick from the ginger beautifully. Trust me, the gingerbread men will not taste like pepper!
And finally, you’ll need crystallised/candied ginger. This does two things. First, it makes sure you can really taste the ginger in these gingerbread men. And second, and it gives a delightfully sticky, chewy texture that makes these gingerbread men so unbelievably moreish.
How to Make these Ultimate Gingerbread Men
Making gingerbread men is quite straightforward – it just requires time! Because the dough needs time to chill, and roll out, then chill again, a lot of that time is idle. But the process itself is a joy!
Start by creaming the softened butter and sugar.
Then beat in the vanilla extract, molasses, and egg.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then slowly incorporate into the wet mixture.
Fold in your bits of crystallised/candied ginger, and there’s your gingerbread dough!
Form into a disc, wrap in cling film and pop in the fridge for 2-3 hours or until firm. It can stay there for a few days if you are planning ahead!
They key to gingerbread is to make sure the dough is chilled – warm dough will be sticky and it’ll be impossible to cut shapes. The colder the dough, the less chance of the gingerbread men spreading and losing their shape in the oven. So that’s why I like to keep half of the dough in the fridge while I roll out the other half. It’s easiest to do this between two sheets of parchment/baking paper. Get it to about 5mm (1/4 inch) thickness.
Then grab your gingerbread men or gingerbread angels (or any shape you like!) and cut out your shapes. If you really want to prevent them sticking, dip the edge of the cutters into some flour. Make sure you firmly press down, as the edge of the cutter might be pressing into a piece of ginger, so you want to make sure you get a clean cut!
Peel the excess dough from around the shapes with a palette or butter knife. Keep the excess dough in the fridge, ready to roll out and repeat the process. Meanwhile, place your shapes onto a baking tray, and, importantly, chill the shapes before baking!
I take this step so seriously that I pop mine in the freezer for 10 minutes as I’m rolling and cutting the rest of the dough. But in the fridge for 15-20 minutes is also fine. Then just bake and enjoy!
As one tray bakes, you can roll, cut and chill another tray, and keep going until you’ve used up all your dough. With the last bits of excess dough I just cut some into squares/rectangles – be as creative as you like!
As far as bake times are concerned, if you want a fudgy, very soft gingerbread man, stick with 8 minutes and eat them while still soft and warm. You won’t regret it.
For a standard gingerbread texture go with 10 minutes, and for a harder snap, go with 12 minutes. The timing will also depend on the thickness and size of your gingerbread shapes. And note that they will be soft straight out of the oven (even with the longer bake time), but they harden as they cool!
Allow to cool completely before piping on royal icing and any other decorations. I use Smarties or M&Ms, but use whatever you like.
I fill some of them completely with icing, some only outlined, and some in little tuxedos (I affectionately call these my gingerbread sirs, thank you very much!).
And for my gingerbread angels, I like to pipe on the icing in a Christmas tree pattern.
And for the squares/rectangles, I do snowflake patterns.
But let your imagination guide you! No matter what though, I always make sure to have a little gingerbread family (here they are posing for a family portrait!)
These gingerbread are best served with a nice glass of milk for dunking!
I truly hope you enjoy this recipe! If you tried it and loved it, I would be so grateful if you left a 5-star review and a comment to let me know how it went! xxx
Ultimate Gingerbread Men Recipe (With Sticky, Chewy Ginger Bits)
Ingredients
Method
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Cream the butter and muscovado sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer (with paddle attachment) until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract, molasses, and the egg for 1-2 minutes until all incorporated.
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Mix all the dry ingredients (except the candied ginger) in a large bowl. Place 1/2 of the dry mixture into the wet mixture, and beat until incorporated. Repeat with the other half of the dry mixture. Once all incorporated, fold in the bits of crystallised ginger.
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Place the dough onto a very lightly floured surface, and use your hands to pat it into a thick disc. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours (it will last in the fridge for 4-5 days at this stage).
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Remove the dough from the fridge. Cut in half, and place half back in the fridge to stay cold while you roll out the other half. (At ANY point in the process, whether that's rolling out, cutting shapes, or laying the shapes on a tray, if your gingerbread is too warm, or too soft to work with, just pop it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. Gingerbread dough is much easier to handle when cold!)
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Place the half you are working with onto some baking paper, and lay another sheet on top. Roll out to 5mm thick. Cut out any shapes you like using gingerbread shaped cutters, or simply cut into squares.
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Peel the excess dough from around your shapes with a butter knife or palette knife. Place the shapes onto a baking tray lined with baking paper (if they are too soft/sticky, place the whole tray in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to firm up the dough). Chill the shapes in the fridge for 15-20 minutes, or in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking.
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Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180°C (fan).
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Place your baking tray in the oven, for 8-12 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your gingerbread (8 minutes for fudgy, 10 minutes for standard, and 12 minutes for a harder snap).
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While one tray is baking, roll out the rest of the chilled dough, cut the shapes, and chill them - you'll have a conveyor belt of gingerbread baking happening!
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Allow the gingerbread to cool completely before icing, or enjoy warm with a glass of milk!
