Gingerbread man cookies

I was born and raised in an Asian background in a small town in Malaysia, I was always fascinated with the celebration of Christmas and the stories of the Gingerbread man when I was young. I always had the urge to just have a bite of them.. hhhmmm.. they surely taste Yuummm! "It would be fun baking them too, I thought.

Well, after 2 decades, I did finally bake them(yes, after 2 decades and for the first time!) last Christmas. It was really fun baking them, especially the decorating part. The colorful icings, the sprinkles, and the heavenly smell of spices coming out of the oven were just wonderful. Oh, it was beginning to smell like Christmas for sure!

In this recipe, I used my Breville Kitchen Wizz Pro food processor to process the ingredients. For Royal icing, I just used the handheld mixer since I want to make sure I get the desired consistency. Have fun baking!

INGREDIENTS:

(serves 24, also it depends on the size of the cutters you use)

90g butter (room temperature)

¼ cup (55g) firmly packed soft brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

150g treacle/ golden syrup

1 tablespoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 ½ cups (225g) plain flour

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

HOW TO:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C fan forced Line two baking trays with baking paper.

2. Add the butter and sugar into bowl, beat until pale and creamy. Then add in salt, spices and treacle and process until well combined.

3. Add in remaining ingredients and mix until mixture just forms a thick dough.

4. Place dough onto a floured surface, knead until smooth. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

5. Lightly knead the dough until smooth and soft enough to roll. 

6. Place the dough between 2 sheets of cling wrap and roll out until about 4mm thick. 

7. Use a gingerbread man cutter (or any desired cutters) to cut out shapes. Place on trays about 3cm apart. 

8. Bake for about 13-15 minutes. Allow to cool on tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.  Repeat with remaining dough.

ROYAL ICING

2 egg whites

pinch cream of tartar

2 ¼ cups pure icing sugar, sifted

1. Assemble mixer, add egg whites and cream of tartar into a clean and dry bowl. 

2. Beat the egg whites mixture until soft peaks form, then gradually add icing sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
3. Divide icing into bowls and add your desired food coloring liquids. Mix until well combined. 

4. Now the fun part! Place icing into piping bag and get your kiddies to help decorating them too!

Note: Icing will harden on standing, hence, cover the bowls with plastic and place them in the fridge.

They were so delicious and all the kiddies who had those gingerbread man cookies absolutely loved them!

Feel free to leave your comment. :)