I’ve never been a fan of gingerbread men cookies, in large part because it seemed so sadistic to eat cookies purposefully made to look (somewhat) human. Plus, as far as cookies go they’re pretty boring. Am I right? They’re flat, hard, and even with icing not incredibly sweet.
The MSBH recipe for Gingerbread Men cookies is a basic ginger cookie recipe that bakes up much crisper than the Gingersnaps but with a fairly sweet, spicy flavor. I still much prefer actual gingersnaps, but these were kind of fun to make and would be a great project to do with kids.
The dough is chilled overnight and then rolled out and the shapes are cut with cookie cutters.
They’re really pretty simple to bake.
Then you make royal icing to decorate them, at least this is what the MSBH instructs you to do. Royal icing is just powdered sugar, water, and meringue powder. Beat all this for several minutes. I over-beat it a bit, my icing could have been a bit thinner. You can add food coloring if you want; I left mine white.
The icing goes into a pastry bag and the decorating can begin. This is one of my least favorite parts of baking – decorating stuff. It takes a steady hand and a lot of skill and a lot of practice to decorate with icing. I am dreading the MSBH wedding cake recipe for this reason. I hate decorating!
I did start to have fun with it, however. My first two cookies are pretty traditional.
And then I decided to decorate the cookies as some of my favorite reality television stars. First, it’s Kate from the ill-fated Jon & Kate + 8. She’s always upset about something. I tried to give her an attractive tank top.
Next it’s Dr. Drew Pinsky of Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew. He’s even sweeter in cookie form.
And now for Russell Hantz, the most nefarious player in all of Survivor history! You can tell it’s Russell because he’s got the immunity idol in his hand.
And finally, a gingerbread man no one would ever think twice about decapitating – one of those obnoxious brothers from the latest season of Amazing Race. You know the ones, Sam and Dan. They were always yelling at each other and tripping Globetrotters and stealing taxis. They were the WORST.
LOL! loved your cookie decorating ideas. should have done one paris hilton!
I’ve tried this recipe yesterday, I had never eaten gigerbread men before because this doesn’t exist here in France, I found them crispy and a little hard, is it normal? I don’t know how they should be! Do they have to be a little hard or a little more tender? To my mind they were great being hard that way. I cooked them for 15 min, maybe next time I’ll try 13 min