Easy Gingerbread Dough Recipe | How to make Gingerbread Men (2024)

How to make gingerbread dough

Our simple recipe for the best gingerbread dough is quick and easy - what's better is the dough can be made ahead of time and placed in the freezer until you are ready to make some gingerbread men, or if you feel ambitious, a gingerbread house!

How to decorate a Gingerbread Man

Struggling to find gingerbread man decorating ideas? We recommend whipping up some fondant icing, and popping it in a piping bag to get creative with a design, why not try a gingerbread lady or adding buttons with colourful sweets.

Just make sure the baked gingerbread has totally cooled before getting creative to avoid melting your icing.

15Prep Time

12Serves

Easy Gingerbread Dough Recipe | How to make Gingerbread Men (9)

Easy

Method

  • Method
  • Ingredients
  • Reviews(17)
  1. Step 1:

    Place the butter and muscovado sugar in a medium saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted and the sugar dissolved. Stir until the mixture blends together, but do not boil.

  2. Step 2:

    Take the saucepan off the heat and sieve in the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger and beat the mixture together, then add the golden syrup and beat until smooth.

  3. Step 3:

    Turn the mixture out onto some cling film and pat into a flat ball, wrap tightly and chill for 30 minutes then place in the freezer until you are ready to use it.

    How to Store Biscuit Dough

    You can keep unbaked biscuit/cookie dough in your fridge for up to 3 days before baking or freeze for a month. Tightly wrap the dough in clingfilm when storing in these conditions.

  4. Step 4:

    When it’s time to make your gingerbread biscuits remove the dough from the freezer and leave to defrost for 3-4 hours until it is soft enough to roll out. You can use this dough in any of our gingerbread recipes.

Ingredients

MetricImperial

    • 100gUnsalted butter (softened)
    • 50gBillington's Unrefined Light Muscovado Sugar
    • 5 tbspSilver Spoon Golden Syrup
    • 225gAllinson's Plain White Flour
    • 1/2 tspBicarbonate of soda
    • 2 tspGinger (ground)

Utensils

  • Rolling pin
  • Saucepan
  • Clingfilm
  • Cookie cutters

Nutritional Information

per 34g

  • 171calEnergy
  • 7.1gFat
  • 4.4gof which Saturates
  • 24gCarbohydrates
  • 11gof which Sugars
  • 2gProtein
  • 0.18gSalt

Recipe Reviews

It used a lot of words I was not familiar with but tasted amazing 🤩

Is good

I haven’t tried yet but already this website is awesome!❤️

it's an amazing recipe

Tasted absolutely Amazing

I made it for my gran and she hugged me so much! 😁 😁 Great recipe

Ingredients

MetricImperial

    • 100gUnsalted butter (softened)
    • 50gBillington's Unrefined Light Muscovado Sugar
    • 5 tbspSilver Spoon Golden Syrup
    • 225gAllinson's Plain White Flour
    • 1/2 tspBicarbonate of soda
    • 2 tspGinger (ground)

Utensils

  • Rolling pin
  • Saucepan
  • Clingfilm
  • Cookie cutters

Nutritional Information

per 34g

  • 171calEnergy
  • 7.1gFat
  • 4.4gof which Saturates
  • 24gCarbohydrates
  • 11gof which Sugars
  • 2gProtein
  • 0.18gSalt

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Easy Gingerbread Dough Recipe | How to make Gingerbread Men (2024)

FAQs

Why are my gingerbread men so hard? ›

“There are some gingerbread recipes that are hard right after baking and need to sit for a few days to soften. Molasses and honey hardens gingerbread, but as the sugar absorbs moisture, it will get softer.”

How do you make gingerbread dough stick together? ›

Tips For the BEST Gingerbread Cookies:

Add just enough flour to bring the dough together. Too much flour will make your cookies crumbly and dry. If your dough is too crumbly: mix in 1 tbsp of milk until the dough is soft and pliable again. Be sure to chill your dough for at least 3 hours.

What are the ingredients in Pillsbury gingerbread cookie dough? ›

Ingredients. Enriched Flour Bleached (wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), Sugar, Palm Oil, Molasses, Water, Canola Oil. Contains 2% or less of: Eggs, Cinnamon, Salt, Ginger, Baking Soda.

What makes gingerbread so strong? ›

A 1:4 ratio of butter to flour makes the gingerbread strong. Corn syrup keeps freshly baked gingerbread pliable and soft, so it's easy to cut while warm. Rolling the dough directly on parchment makes it easy to transfer to the pan.

Should gingerbread men be soft or crunchy? ›

Follow this tip: Use a combination of both molasses and dark brown sugar in your gingerbread cookie dough to ensure that they'll be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.

Should gingerbread men be soft when they come out of the oven? ›

Don't overbake them.

The cookies should still be slightly soft when you take them out of the oven. Most regular-sized gingerbread cookies will take 9-10 minutes, but you might need a little more or less time depending on whether your cookie cutters are small or extra large.

What is the best thing to stick gingerbread together? ›

Fit Everything Together with Melted Sugar or Royal Icing

The second way is to use burnt sugar as your glue. Just melt C&H® Pure Granulated Cane Sugar in a pan on the stove, dip the gingerbread parts in and hold them together for a few seconds. Then, presto! You've created a solid house.

How do you firm up gingerbread dough? ›

Chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours to allow the dough to firm up, and up to three days ahead.

What is the best store bought gingerbread cookie mix? ›

Our winner is a familiar brand in baking - Betty Crocker ($3.59 for 17.5 ounces at Safeway). This limited-edition cookie mix produced cookies with a "tender texture," with two panelists noting their "well-balanced" spicing.

Can you buy ready made gingerbread dough? ›

The Pantry Gingerbread Dough 350g | ALDI.

What is gingerbread dough made of? ›

For making the gingerbread house dough, you will need the following ingredients: flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, unsalted butter, light brown sugar, molasses, an egg and vanilla extract.

What keeps gingerbread houses from falling apart? ›

Then take your gingerbread house pieces, dip the edges in melted sugar and hold them together for a few seconds. That's it! The sugar hardens quickly and creates an solid base for tons and tons of decorating. Don't miss our best ideas for adorable gingerbread houses!

What makes gingerbread taste like gingerbread? ›

Spice Combinations

Some other common spices used in gingerbread recipes are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, and allspice. Cinnamon is available in ground form and in a stick. For baking, you should use ground cinnamon. Nutmeg adds a nutty, sweet spiciness to gingerbread.

How do you make a gingerbread house stronger? ›

So to make sure our walls could stand strong, we sandwiched melted marshmallow cement between two graham crackers. The marshmallow adds weight, which helps stabilize the structure. It also acts as a sealant, ensuring that the cracker won't crumble.

Does gingerbread harden as it cools? ›

Gingerbread Cookies are done when they are set and begin to brown slightly at the edges. They will harden further as they cool, so avoid overbaking so you don't end up with hard, crunchy gingerbread!

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