These are definitely not Italian traditional cookies, but I have always loved them and I have made them every Christmas since moving to Australia (my girls leave some on a plate for Santa to eat on Christmas Eve along with a glass of milk…). I guess you could say it’s an “acquired” tradition in our family. For my Foodbuzz 24×24 Christmas in July event I could not resist the temptation to make some and use them as decorations. I made 4 regular size gingerbread men to use as signposts and 1 bigger gingerbread man to use with our centrepiece. I decorated them with writing icing and gels: it was so much easier to write our names this way! The girls helped out too and we had a fun time making these together! Highly recommended as “family entertainment” for your next Christmas!
Ingredients:
125 gms butter, at room temperature
100 gms brown sugar
125 ml golden syrup
1 egg yolk
375 gms flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp mixed spice
1 tbsp soda bicarbonate
Beat the butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer till fluffy and pale.
Add the golden syrup and egg yolk, and keep mixing.
Stir in the flour, ground ginger, mixed spice and soda bicarbonate.
Transfer onto the benchtop and knead till smooth.
Make a ball with the dough, wrap it in cling wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Roll the dough into a 4mm thick sheet and cut out the gingerbread men shapes using a cookie cutter.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 10-12 minutes.
Let them cool down on a wire rack. When completely cold, decorate them with icing (I used Queen Writing Icing and Gels).
Cute and beautiful presentation! Hopefully we’re in time to make our own gingerbread man cookies for this Christmas! 😀
All along, I bought from the bakery for my girls…
The gingerbread men are adorable but your daughters are even cuter!
So darn cute, Manu! My youngest always asks me to make gingerbread men at Christmas, but they would be a hit any time of the year 🙂
I bought cookie cutter last year and I’d love to make my very first gingerbread men this year with the kids. I love your idea of having cookies as name tag for the table! I’m going to copy your way this Christmas! =) Thanks for sharing!
Nice nice nice!!! I just bought in Berlin the cookie cutters in shape of appelmans (the traffic light men)… they will be my gingerbread men for this Christmas!
Oh your little kitchen helper is adorable!! I love gingerbread so much!!! I used to make my mom drive me to the german bakery to get some every Christmas. Now come to think of it – I wish we made some like you did!
Cute! Love that you used them as place cards!
They are the most gorgeous gingerbread mean ever. I bet they were so fun to make with your family.
cute post lovely looking gingerbread cookies
How cute… love it! Great post!
Aww look that those cutie pies making cutting their cookies 🙂 That was some Christmas treat huh!
too cute! I’ve always been a fan of ginger bread too… something about that sweet and spicy!
So cute!
Cute looking ginger cookies! Loved the clicks and your lil one is cuter than the cookies 🙂
Hehe these are TOO cute!! And the recipe sounds delicious, wonderful job! 🙂
These looks great! Sounds like something my son would love to do. Is golden syrup the same as corn syrup?
ma sono bellissimi!
mi salvo la ricetta…voglio farli assieme ai miei bimbi della mia classe il prossimo Natale!
Grazie Manu!
Ohhh, I’ve been thinking of making something Christmas-y to kind of cheer up my summer a bit, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it and risk spoiling my once-a-year Chritmas madness…thanks for brining it to me! Buzzed! 🙂
These are SO CUTE! What a great MUM you are!
I also love gingerbread! There was a time when, following the German tradition, I used to make 5-10 types of cookies to eat at Christmas….
Mi piacciono molto i biscottini in stile americano, i tuoi sono davvero deliziosi! buona giornata!
Grazie mille Chiara! :-)))) Un bacione!
How cute.. Such Christmas spirit.. I love gingerbread, though have tried making it myself only once..
So cute Manu..I loved the idea of writing names on them
original and sweet
All of these recipes are making me crave the holidays! Your gingerbread men are so adorable, can’t wait to make these!