Cookies "Gingerbread men". Gingerbread men - Christmas gingerbread cookies

Or a pie. But at the same time, in the United States and Europe, there is another culinary symbol of the holiday - the gingerbread man. The recipe for gingerbread men is quite simple, making such a dessert is not difficult even for novice housewives.

Gingerbread man: types of dough and the secrets of creating a shape

There are several ways to make a gingerbread man. The dough can be either classic ginger or honey, mint, custard, and even lean. You can also use the recipe for gingerbread men, in which, in addition to ginger, there will be chocolate or chocolate chips. You can also move away from the canons and add dried fruits, cinnamon and other ingredients to your taste in cookies.

With how to prepare dough for cookies, there are no problems. However, for many, the most incomprehensible remains how to make gingerbread men according to the recipe. Few people know how to give the liver the correct shape.

There are two ways to solve this problem. The first of these is to use templates from the Web and print them on simple sheets of any size. Then they need to be cut out and put on a layer of dough. Then, using a knife, create a “little man” from the dough. The second way is easier. It is enough to buy a gingerbread man mold in the store. Then there will be no problems with how to create a Christmas gingerbread.

Gingerbread Man Recipe: Gingerbread Dough

Required products:

• Flour - four glasses.
• Oil 73% fat - three hundred grams.
• Eggs - two pieces.
• Cognac - six tablespoons.
• Powdered ginger - two teaspoons.
• Honey - four hundred grams.
• Sugar - one and a half glasses.

Making gingerbread

To prepare the gingerbread, we will use a proven recipe for gingerbread gingerbread men. First, melt honey and butter in a water bath. Then pour granulated sugar to them and stir until all the sugar has dissolved. The resulting mixture must be set aside for a while to cool.

When the mixture has cooled, you can add dry ginger, two eggs, cognac to it and mix everything again. The next ingredient to be added to the resulting mixture is good quality sifted wheat flour. Add flour in small portions and stir. After all the flour has been added, you need to thoroughly knead the dough and wrap it in cling film.

Place the dough in the refrigerator and leave it there for about five hours. Take the chilled dough out of the refrigerator. Put it on the working surface of the table and roll it into a layer no more than five millimeters thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out gingerbread men from the dough. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the cutouts on it. Send them to the oven, which was preheated to one hundred and seventy degrees. Bake for ten to twenty minutes maximum. Ready-made cookies, prepared according to the classic gingerbread man recipe, take out of the oven, cool, and then decorate with icing.

Honey dough for gingerbread

Grocery list:

• Flour - six glasses.
• Honey - four hundred grams.
• Water - two glasses.
• Sugar - one hundred and fifty grams.
• Eggs - eight pieces.
• Soda - twenty grams.

Cooking honey men

Honey gingerbread men will decorate any Christmas table. The classic dough recipe includes ginger. But you can diversify traditional pastries using various ingredients, such as honey. First you need to put honey in a small bowl, add hot boiled water and stir.

In a separate deep bowl, beat two egg whites with two pinches of salt. When foam forms, add sugar and beat until thick. Then add eight yolks and beat the mass for another five minutes. Pour diluted honey into this mass and stir. Further, constantly whisking, little by little you need to add the sifted wheat flour. Once all the flour has been added, knead into a soft dough.

Wrap the dough in cling film and set aside for 6 hours. After the required time has elapsed, remove the dough from the film, knead it well again and roll it into a layer no more than five millimeters thick. Cut out figures in the form of little men using special molds. Spread them out on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.

After that, you need to send the baking sheet to the oven preheated to one hundred and seventy degrees and bake until cooked from ten to twenty minutes. Get a baking sheet with ready-made gingerbread men and wait until they cool, and then decorate the gingerbread cookies with icing or other decorations to your taste.

Chocolate gingerbread men

What will be required:

• Flour - four hundred grams.
• Chocolate - one hundred grams.
• Oil - two hundred and fifty grams.
• Cocoa - five teaspoons.
• Eggs - two pieces.
• Sugar - one hundred and fifty grams.
• Dried ginger - two teaspoons.
• Baking powder - two teaspoons.

Making chocolate men

For this Christmas dessert, we will use a different recipe. Cookies "Gingerbread men" is prepared like this. Place the softened butter, eggs, granulated sugar, black chocolate cut into small pieces with a knife into the bowl of a food processor and mix until smooth.

Place the dry ingredients in a separate deep bowl: sifted wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, dried ginger. Mix them well. Pour the resulting dry mixture into the bowl of a food processor and mix for five to eight minutes. The dough in the bowl will consist of fairly large pieces that do not stick to your hands.

Place these pieces on a floured work surface and knead the dough. You can add flour if necessary. Form a ball from the dough, wrap it with food film. Send the dough to cool in the refrigerator for two hours. Then roll out a layer seven to eight millimeters thick from it and cut out figures in the form of men.

Arrange the cut out gingerbread men on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the oven. The oven temperature should be one hundred and eighty degrees, and the baking time should be from fifteen to twenty minutes. Remove the finished cookies from the oven and cool. Then it must be decorated with icing and painted.

Lean gingerbread men

You will need:

• Flour - eight hundred grams.
• Sunflower oil - two hundred milliliters.
• Orange peel - five teaspoons.
• Sweet syrup - one hundred and fifty milliliters.
• Baking powder - two teaspoons.
• Dried ginger - three teaspoons.
• Sugar - one hundred and fifty grams.

Cooking

Initially, you need to prepare syrup for cookies from granulated sugar, syrup and the spices included in the recipe. Place all these ingredients in a heavy bottomed saucepan, put on fire and boil. Mix wheat flour with baking powder and freshly grated orange zest. After the syrup has cooled, pour the flour into the pan in small parts, pour the oil.

Mix and place on a floured surface. Knead the lean dough until it stops sticking to your hands. If necessary, you can add a little flour. Roll out the finished dough into a layer five to six millimeters thick and cut out figures of men from it. Put them on a baking sheet covered with parchment and place in the oven with a temperature of one hundred and eighty degrees. Bake products should be about fifteen minutes. Decorate the cookies after cooling.

This sweet creature evokes affection: rosy cheeks, glazed eyes, elegant buttons. He appears at Christmas and gives the feeling of a fairy tale. The gingerbread man is a funny ginger-scented creature. It can be called an emigrant from Europe and America, who has his own life story.

Who is the "Gingerbread Man"?

Despite the fact that it is created from natural products, today it is usually used as decoration. The gingerbread man goes straight from the kitchen under the Christmas tree. Unlike more edible cookies, it is somewhat dry and hard, so it does not particularly pretend to be a treat.

The gingerbread man is a character in an American fairy tale, which is in many ways similar to the Russian story "Kolobok". According to the plot of a fairy tale legend, he is molded and decorated by grandparents, from whom he runs away. The main character manages to save himself from a cow, a horse, a pig, which he is very proud of. However, a cunning red fox lures a ginger naughty into the river, offers to sit on her nose, and safely dine on them. As many historical facts testify, the great-grandfather of the gingerbread man was an authoritative person at the court of Elizabeth I herself. In the distant sixteenth century, gingerbread figures were created in the court kitchen, which exactly repeated the images of the queen's guests. But even ordinary peasants passed on such a Christmas tradition from generation to generation.

How is a gingerbread man made?

Baking gingerbread men to decorate the Christmas tree is very simple. It is enough to have flour (4 cups), butter, sugar, chicken eggs, honey, salt, soda, pepper, ginger and cloves in the house. Flour is mixed with spices, butter - with sugar, honey, eggs are added, the dough is kneaded. After it has stood for a couple of hours in the cold, roll out the layer, cut out little men and put in the oven for 20 minutes. And then they “revive” with the help of glaze (proteins whipped with powdered sugar).

A mold for little men can be made of thick cardboard. For decoration use sweet mastic. The idea of ​​a Christmas man turned out to be interesting for manufacturers of games, films, and mobile applications. He made his successful debut in a minor cartoon role by Andrew Adamson. The gingerbread hero is mentioned in the texts of famous musical groups. And the talented vocalist Melanie Martinez dedicated a Christmas song to him. And today, as centuries ago, a cheerful little man made of dough with ginger delights people all over the world with his presence at the charming Christmas holiday.

Kaluga region, Borovsky district, Petrovo village

- a bright family holiday, which is celebrated throughout the Earth. On this special night of reconciliation, everyone wishes each other well. This is a magical time for gifts, sincere smiles and fulfillment of desires, and it is also a wonderful occasion to meet with relatives and friends, to remember the joyful moments of the past year. ETNOMIR invites you to plunge into the traditional atmosphere of the holiday.

Guests are waiting for songs and dances, a fun folk show and traditional folk carols from the mummers. And, of course, Christmas dinner!

ETNOMIR loves and honors traditions!

At Christmas, European and American families traditionally bake gingerbread in the shape of the famous fairy tale character. Each product is beautifully painted with glaze. This tradition has also spread to other countries. Delicious little cookies will delight guests and household members.

How to make a gingerbread man

The process, as a result of which you get a gingerbread man, is divided into several stages:

1. First you need to prepare the components.
2. The second step, according to the recipes with photos, is kneading the dough. All components experts recommend mixing, not whipping, to make it delicious.
3. Then you need to roll out the dough, cut out little men with a shape.
4. Baking will require a minimum amount of time.
5. The last step is to color the gingerbread products, as in the photo from the recipe.

Gingerbread Man Template

To get a small beautiful gingerbread in the form of a fairy tale character, you will need a special form. The device can be purchased at a culinary store or online. If you can't buy a gingerbread man stencil, try making your own template. To do this, use thick cardboard. Draw on it the silhouette you need, cut out the template. The stencil is very easy to use. Place it on the surface of the rolled out dough, trace the outline with the tip of a knife.

How to color the gingerbread man

In the photo, the gingerbread figures look very bright and beautiful. An appetizing look is given to them by a multi-colored sugar decor. You can apply a thick substance with a pastry bag, medical syringe or brush. Today, to create patterns on how to color a gingerbread man, housewives use different types of glaze obtained from common products:

• egg whites;
• chocolate
• butter or margarine;
• with added food coloring.

Gingerbread Man Recipes

Varieties of gingerbread products depend on the dough used. The base can be honey, chocolate, mint essence or ginger. To make the dish tasty, you can add spices to it:

• cardamom;
• cloves;
• nutmeg;
• vanillin;
• citric acid.

gingerbread man

• Calorie content of the dish: 443 kcal.
• Cuisine: European.

A traditional recipe for the Christmas table in Western countries. However, gingerbread men have become widespread in other cultures. Ginger dough gives pastries a spicy aroma and taste, reminiscent of the gingerbread we are used to with this component. Beautiful, original and bright cookies will decorate any holiday table. Children will especially like them.

Ingredients:

• granulated sugar - 100 g;
• chicken eggs - 2 pcs.;
• ground cinnamon - 1 teaspoon;
• butter - 100 g;
• wheat flour - 0.1 kg;
• honey - 100 g;
• lemon juice - 45 ml;
• powdered sugar - 100 g.

Cooking method:

1. Place a piece of butter in a container with sugar. Rub the ingredients with a spoon until the sweet sand dissolves. The mass should become white and become airy. If mixing by hand is difficult for you, try whipping the ingredients a little with a whisk at low speed.
2. Add honey to the resulting mixture, then eggs. Combine all components into a homogeneous mass with a whisk. Sprinkle in cinnamon and ground ginger.
3. Flour should be sifted, introduced into the mass gradually.
4. The next step in making cookies is kneading the dough. It should have the consistency of plasticine.
5. Part of the finished dough should be rolled out on a flat surface. If you need a crispy gingerbread man, form a thin layer; if soft and lush - make it thicker.
6. From the finished panel, cut out the figures according to the prepared template. Arrange the products on baking paper or a baking sheet, which should be pre-greased with oil.
7. Preheat the oven to 150-160 degrees. It will take a short time to bake - only 8-10 minutes.
8. The next step on how to make a gingerbread man is to decorate it. This process can be achieved with a simple glaze. Mix powdered sugar with lemon juice. Continue stirring until the mass resembles liquid sour cream in consistency.
9. Apply the resulting icing to the cookies with a pastry syringe. Wait for the decorations to harden and serve with tea.

Dough for gingerbread men

• Cooking time: 60 minutes.
• Servings: 4-6 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 353 kcal.
• Purpose: on the festive table.
• Cuisine: European.
• Difficulty of preparation: medium.

You can make the famous Christmas or New Year cookies from different types of dough. Original delicious gingerbread will turn out if you use mint. To give a fresh aroma, you will need to use an essence that can be found on the shelves of pharmacies. If you can’t find such a liquid, use a tincture of mint leaves.

Ingredients:

• water - 0.1 l;
• mint essence - 1.5 tsp;
• sugar sand - 150 g;
• soda - 1 tsp;
• flour - 350 g;
• vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. l.

Cooking method:

1. Mix flour with soda and sift.
2. Pour water into a saucepan, add sugar. Boil the resulting syrup for a couple of minutes after dissolving the sugar, then it should be cooled.
3. Mix the mint component to the cooled substance.
4. Pour the flour in a slide, add the butter. Knead the dough, gradually introducing the syrup. If it comes out inelastic, mix in more oil.
5. Wrap the resulting mass in cling film, leave for half an hour in the refrigerator.
6. Roll out the finished dough. Little men are cut out like any cookie using a stencil or a special shape.
7. Lay out the cookies on the parchment.
8. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

Icing for gingerbread men

• Cooking time: 20 minutes.
• Servings: 4-6 persons.
• Calorie content of the dish: 315 kcal.
• Purpose: on the festive table.
• Cuisine: European.
• Difficulty of preparation: easy.

Decorating a dish for Christmas requires colored icing. A sweet white coating is considered traditional, but you can successfully use, for example, chocolate. The recipe for how to prepare a decorative element is very simple, it does not require special culinary skills from the hostess. This coloring of a painted man has a pleasant aroma and taste.

Ingredients:

• butter - 10 g;
• cocoa powder - 40 g;
• water - 1/3 cup;
• sugar - 150 g.

Cooking method:

1. Grind sugar and cocoa with a coffee grinder.
2. Boil water, pour boiling water over the ground mixture. Combine ingredients until smooth. When finished mixing, add melted butter.
3. The resulting fondant can be painted to decorate the dish after 40 minutes.

Video: gingerbread men recipe

The most delicious and prettiest holiday attribute for the New Year and Christmas are, of course, gingerbread cookies and gingerbread cookies in the form of various figures. Especially popular are gingerbread houses, snowflakes, cookies to decorate the Christmas tree and, of course, gingerbread men, which children love so much.

Cooking gingerbread men is not so difficult, the main thing is to stock up on time, patience and one or two assistants - things will go much faster with them)))

To prepare gingerbread men, prepare the products according to the list. In this recipe, I used the dough, peeped in one program about gingerbread, which is unusual in that both soda and baking powder are used here for leavening. This method allows you to make the dough an exceptionally pleasant texture, since loosening goes in two directions: first, soda combines with honey acids, then baking powder starts its work at high temperatures.

Mix honey with sugar, spices, salt, oil and soda in a bowl. Slowly melt the mixture over low heat until foam appears on the surface.

Cool the mixture to a temperature of about 40 degrees, then mix with flour, egg and baking powder.

Knead with your hands a soft, tender and elastic dough.

Roll out the dough into a layer about 0.5 cm thick. Cut out the figures of men with a special mold (or using cardboard blanks).

In heated up to 200 degrees. oven bake the figurines for 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the size. Transfer carefully to a tray or plate and set aside.

While the figurines are cooling, prepare the glaze. To do this, prepare the necessary ingredients and tools. I used natural dyes from chlorophyll, curcumin and beets.

Prepare the icing from protein and powdered sugar, divide it into 4 parts and tint with food coloring. Arrange in bags and secure with something on top, I use banal clothespins or stationery clips - it's very convenient!

Decorate the cooled figures with tinted glaze and let it harden.

Gingerbread men are ready. Happy holidays!

The history of the gingerbread man is as old as the world, but it came to us relatively recently. An interesting and tasty tradition, filled with Christmas aromas and homely warmth, was liked by many. Most of us learned about the existence of a gingerbread man from fairy tales or films, but he is by no means a fantasy of the authors, but, on the contrary, a very real character from life. Who is this, this Recipe for its creation is shrouded in many stories, fabulous and not so.

How it was

A long time ago, Elizabeth I decided to surprise the guests and present them with an unusual Christmas treat. She ordered to bake cookies, reminiscent of noble invited persons in shape. The cooks did their best: the delicacy was decorated with intricate icing turns and turned out to be surprisingly tasty. And the idea itself turned out to be very successful: it was interesting for the guests to guess themselves in the sweet and fragrant treat. There was a rumor about him, and soon the idea of ​​​​baking bread in the shape of little men had already settled in the homes of ordinary people. So a delicious and kind New Year's tradition - the Christmas gingerbread man - went to travel around the world. The recipe for its preparation has changed, improved and today it has come down to us, perhaps, in its best it is customary to bake, put in colorful holiday bags and give to children, and they also decorate the Christmas tree and house, treat guests, and according to legend, the gingerbread man is Santa's favorite delicacy. Klaus.

Such different people

In fact, any gingerbread cookie can serve as the base from which a gingerbread man will be made. The cooking recipe may be different, but certainly in each there is a little fragrant ginger and various spices. The shape of the cookies may also vary. It can be boys and girls, snowmen and various fantastic fairy-tale characters. You can dilute them with cookies in the form of snowflakes or However, who has enough imagination for what. Special attention should be paid to decoration. Traditionally, a little man has eyes, a mouth and buttons on his shirt, which the cheerful hero from a fairy tale cherishes very much. You can decorate with icing, raisins, and make a mouth out of a lemon or orange peel. To decorate a Christmas tree with it, you should make a small hole in the test in advance, through which you then pass the ribbon and hang the little man with it.

Making a mold

In fact, today such pastries are not a problem; almost every store sells a form. The gingerbread man can be cut using a pastry pattern or baked in silicone molds. By the way, the size can also be different - from very tiny to large and voluminous cookies. If your store does not have such utensils, do not be discouraged. This is not at all a reason to think that on Christmas Eve a gingerbread man will not come to visit your kids. A cookie template can be cut out of plain paper and given a silhouette that you like the most successful. It remains only to roll out the dough, lay a paper template on top and cut it into shape with an ordinary knife.

You can use another idea. The gingerbread man mold can be made from thin tin tape. It remains only to give her the shape of a little man. For the material, you can use an empty can of Coca-Cola or another drink. Cut off the top and bottom of the jar. Cut the resulting cylinder in half - so you get a rectangular sheet. It remains to cut long strips, shape them and fasten the edges. This template is placed on the rolled out gingerbread dough and a gingerbread man is cut out with a light touch. You can use the cookie recipe from this article.

gingerbread recipe

In fact, it can be anything, but if you have not cooked gingerbread cookies before, we will be happy to tell you a couple of great recipes. And even if ginger cookies have not found their recognition in your home, do not give up on the idea. All you have to do is bake your family's favorite human-shaped cookies and decorate them.

For 700 g of flour, take: 100 g of margarine, a glass of sugar, half a glass of molasses, an egg, 2 tsp each. ground: cinnamon, ginger and cloves, 1 tsp. soda and salt (a pinch).

Arm yourself with a mixer and beat the sugar with softened butter until a homogeneous plastic mass, then add the egg and mix well. Add the remaining ingredients to the mass and, continuing to work with the mixer at a slow speed, gradually add the flour. Remove the dough in a bag and send it to cool in the refrigerator for 1.5 - 2 hours.

Roll out the pastry to 1.5 cm thick and cut out cookies. Place on a baking sheet lined with paper and bake for 15 minutes at 190 degrees. Cool and decorate to your liking.

Honey gingerbread cookies

For 1 kilogram of flour, take: ½ kg of honey, 200 g of granulated sugar, 300 g of margarine, 2 eggs, 50 g of cocoa, baking powder - 2 tsp. Add spices to taste: ground dried ginger, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and black pepper.

Melt honey with sugar and margarine, sugar should completely dissolve. Sift the flour, when the honey mass has cooled - combine. Add ground spices, eggs. Knead the dough. It should be smooth and not stick to your hands or the table. Roll a ball out of it, put it in a bag and put it in the refrigerator for an hour.

The dough is rolled out to a thickness of 1 cm. The gingerbread man (template) is placed on top and the product is cut out. The baking sheet should be covered with baking paper, spread out the cookies and put in the oven for 10 minutes (temperature 180 degrees). Cool down. Prepare multi-colored icing and decorate cookies.

Do you know?

The gingerbread man has a fun and full life. He became a real hero of films and cartoons. And almost every kid from Western countries knows the fairy tale "About the Gingerbread Man." The most interesting thing is that in it the main character - a man made of gingerbread dough - completely repeats the story of our Kolobok, who jumped out of the oven and left his grandparents. A lot of different stories happen to the little man, each narrator tells them in his own way. But the fairy tale ends, nevertheless, it is still sad - the ginger traveler is eaten by the cunning and sly Fox.