Forget Gingerbread Men — This Year Make One of These Astounding Gingerbread Recipes (2024)

FAQs

Why are my gingerbread men spreading? ›

Add the right amount of flour to the cookie dough, when making it. Or add some extra flour to the cookie dough, after the first pan of cookies spread. They spread because they don't have enough flour. Once they have cooled awhile on a rack, or on a towel, put the cookies into a cookie jar, with a slice of bread.

Molasses and honey hardens gingerbread, but as the sugar absorbs moisture, it will get softer.” Cookbook author and ”Great American Baking Show” winner Vallery Lomas likes a gingerbread cookie that's packed with flavor. “I want to taste a lot of the spices ― especially ginger,” she said.

These biscuits will last for about a week in an airtight container, if they last that long! It's best to decorate with things such as sweets, chocolate, or royal icing!

Fats in the dough melt in the oven, and if there aren't enough dry ingredients to hold the fat, it spreads, and the gingerbread loses its shape. However, too many dry ingredients will cause the gingerbread to be crumbly and dry, so it's vital to get the balance of the ingredients right.

Gingerbread is made harder by molasses and honey, but it becomes softer when water is absorbed by the sugar. Can I use this recipe for making gingerbread houses? No, these cookies are too soft to make a stable gingerbread house. Instead, use the recipe on my post about how to make a gingerbread house.

Transferring and Baking

Something long and thin is best to minimise ruining the shape! Bake for 12 minutes for light golden and mostly soft (though slightly crisp on edges), or 14 minutes for deeper golden and crisp. The gingerbread men will be soft out of the oven but will firm up as they cool.

Golden Syrup

With its golden, amber color, it is lighter than molasses, though the two are similar in their thickness. Golden syrup also a liquid sweetener, so 1 cup of golden syrup can replace 1 cup of molasses. Golden syrup has a unique flavor, so it may alter the flavor of your recipe slightly.

The general rule of thumb is a couple of weeks. It depends how its prepared and if you used a lot of icing. Also, gingerbread like any other bread turns stale quite fast. Eating it after 1–2 week with tea shouldn't be a problem.

Baked gingerbread men cookies can be frozen undecorated. Place the completely cooled cookies in a zip-top freezer bag and freeze for up to three months. Thaw in the fridge overnight then decorate as desired.

Can I freeze gingerbread? ›

Shortbread, biscotti, gingerbread, and drop cookies like chocolate chip or oatmeal are all examples of sturdy cookies that hold up well once frozen. "They can stand up to the cold temperatures and won't be damaged when you mindlessly rummage through your freezer," says Jason Schreiber, baker and cookbook author.

Chilling the dough makes the butter, and the dough firm up. Also, a very cold, even frozen crust will shrink less during baking. If you think about a stick of butter it makes sense: the cold butter keeps it's shape, When it softens, it spreads and no longer keeps it's shape.

An excessive amount of butter makes it where the flour is unable to absorb the combined fat, which causes the cookie to spread too widely and the sugar to carbonize more easily because it's surrounded by too buttery a dough.

Gingerbread cookies should be soft. They should be supple. They should bend to your teeth before the cookie skin breaks and the crumbs fall all over you. They should retain a bit of elasticity, and maybe you can even leave your fingerprints on the cookie if you hold them too hard because you're just that excited.

“Baking cookies in a too-cool oven will cause the fat to melt before your cookies set up, leading to spreading,” Dawn says. Grab an oven thermometer the next time you're in the grocery store so you can be sure your oven is at the correct temperature.

If this happens, put the dough into the refrigerator until it is well chilled, usually about 1 to 2 hours. Another possible fix is to add some additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is slightly stiffer and doesn't spread. 2. Butter or margarine is too soft.

To prevent this make sure the baking sheets are always at least on room temperature. Ideally you want to cut your cookies and then chill them with the baking sheet. that way the tray is still cool when it goes in the oven and the cookies have no time to spread before they are baked through.