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Iced gingerbread men are soft, delicious and simple to make. These easy gingerbread cookies are always a hit and a fun Christmas tradition!
Iced Gingerbread Men made from real gingerbread is a tradition in my house. The gingerbread men are so soft, sweet and full of the flavor of the Christmas holiday. These are a cookie that need to be made a day in advance to give the icing time to soak in and slightly soften these little men to perfection. I’ve been asked many times if gingerbread cookies are difficult to make. Gingerbread is not any harder to make than roll out sugar cookies. Trust me, you’ll make these over and over again!
How to make gingerbread men:
- After mixing up the gingerbread dough roll it out to a 1/4 inch thickness and cut out your gingerbread men with a gingerbread man cookie cutter. (affiliate link) I usually get about 4 dozen gingerbread men out of one batch.
- Bake your gingerbread men on greased or parchment paper (affiliate link) lined baking sheets (affiliate link) at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.
- Make the icing while the cookies are baking. I prefer to ice these while they are just slightly still warm. I ice them using the back of a spoon. After they are iced I let the cookies sit on my counter top for an hour or two to let the icing set up. Then I store them in an airtight container with wax paper separating the layers of cookies and allow them to sit overnight before taking them to friends and neighbors.
My top tip for making gingerbread men:
Plan to let these cookies sit overnight before taking them to people or eating them. I say this because at first these cookies are a kind of hard, but after they sit overnight in an airtight container with the icing on them, they soften up to be the softest cookies you will ever eat.
Can I use this recipe to make a gingerbread house?
Yes, and no. For a gingerbread house please, click on over to my DIY Gingerbread Houses . I’ve modified this recipe and include the measurements for them. They’re so fun to make and my kids look forward to making them every year. You’ll also need my No Fail Royal Icing recipe for your gingerbread houses!
More Christmas Cookie Recipes:
Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Ritz
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Iced Gingerbread Men Recipe
Iced gingerbread men are soft, delicious and simple to make. These cute gingerbread cookies are always a hit and a fun Christmas tradition!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes (plus a couple hours for the icing to set)
- Cook Time: 12 minutes (per batch)
- Total Time: 42 minutes
- Yield: 4 Dozen Cookies 1x
- Category: Cookie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Gingerbread Dough
- 1 Cup Shortening (don’t sub butter)
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup Molasses
- 2 Tbs. Vinegar
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Cloves
- 5 Cups Flour
- 1/3 Cup Warm Water
Icing
- 1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 1 tsp Clear vanilla (regular vanilla is fine but your icing won’t be as white)
- Milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper or lightly spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening and sugar. Add the molasses, vinegar, and vanilla. Mix well.
- Add the baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and cloves. Mix well.
- Stir in 3 cups of the flour. Add the water; mix well. Add the 2 remaining cups of flour.
- Turn the cookie dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. You can sprinkle the dough with a little flour if it is sticking to your rolling pin.
- Cut out the gingerbread men and place them on prepared baking sheets.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.
- Make icing by whisking the vanilla and milk a little at a time into the powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. It should have a consistency a little thicker than syrup.
- Ice the gingerbread men a while they are still just slightly warm. Leave them on your countertop until the icing is set. This will take an hour to two hours. Test by lightly touching the icing top. It should not be soft or squishy.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container with wax paper in between the layers. Allow the cookies to sit overnight for best flavor and maximum softness.
Keywords: gingerbread, cookie
This post contains affiliate links. For more info see my disclosure policy here.
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The cookies are great! The times are a little misleading; it took my husband and I 2 hours total to get to the point where we were waiting for the icing to cool off before we could store them and go to bed. We needed to do 3 batches, and I iced the completed ones while my husband finished off cutting the cookies and baking them. The cookies taste good though, I even added some red gel dye to the icing to be extra festive. Will probably make these again next year, just make them in the afternoon and not after dinner.
★★★★
I apologize for the misleading times. It appears that the last time I updated my recipe card software it filled in those time slots itself!?!?!?!? It does take a good hour or more for the icing to set up enough to package. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. I will fix that today.