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Gingerbread boys and girls cookies in a circle.
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5 from 2 votes

Gingerbread Boys and Girls Cookies

Decorate plain gingerbread men cookies into cute little gingerbread boys and girls with this easy recipe and tutorial!
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time6 minutes
Decorating time2 hours
Total Time2 hours 36 minutes
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Servings: 50 cookies
Calories: 98.3kcal
Author: Priya Maha

Equipment

  • Disposable piping bags
  • Petal tip #101

Ingredients

Cookies

  • 340 g all purpose flour
  • 170 g soft brown sugar
  • 100 g butter (salted)
  • 60 ml golden syrup
  • 1 egg
  • 2 ½ tablespoon ground ginger ginger powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon cinnamon powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves cloves powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Decoration

  • 500 g powdered sugar (sifted)
  • 2 egg whites (pasteurized)
  • ¼ teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
  • Food coloring (Wilton pink, golden yellow, brown and Americolor electric blue, electric green and black)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 175°Celsius. Line baking trays with parchment paper.
  • Measure butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed until the mixture turns creamy. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
  • Add the egg and beat again until all traces of the egg are no longer visible. Beat in the golden syrup.
  • Sift the flour, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, baking soda, and salt. Add these dry ingredients into the creamed wet ingredients.
  • Mix to form a dough ball. The dough will be sticky at this stage. For easy handling, divide the dough into smaller sections, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
  • Place the chilled dough between 2 parchment sheets (or plastic sheets) and roll with 2 dowel rods on either side (see Note 1).
  • Cut with gingerbread man cookie cutter. Dip the cutter in flour to prevent sticking.
  • Transfer the cookies onto prepared baking trays. Use a flat rubber spatula to lift the cookies to keep their shape.
  • Bake for 6 minutes for soft and chewy cookies. Increase the baking time to 8 minutes for crispy gingerbread cookies (see Note 2).
  • Remove cookies from oven and rest in the tray for a few minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container until ready to be decorated (see Note 3).
  • To make the royal icing, place the egg whites in a large, grease-free bowl. Whip on medium speed until they turn frothy and increase in volume. Gradually add the powdered sugar and continue beating until the icing turns smooth and gloss and stiff peaks form.
  • Add the lemon juice and mix again.
  • Divide the icing into 6 small bowls. Tint each bowl of icing in all the colors that are needed - black, brown, electric blue, electric green, pink and yellow.
  • Add a few drops of warm water to the bowls of blue, green and pink icing to dilute to a runny consistency. Mix well (see Note 4).
  • Fill the yellow icing into a piping bag fitted with tip 101. For the rest of the colors, fill them into piping bags without any tips.
  • To decorate the gingerbread boys, snip the tip of the black icing bag and pipe the hair in curly motion. Using the same icing, pipe 2 dots on the face for the eyes.
  • Snip the tip of the brown icing bag and pipe the nose and mouth.
  • For the shirt, snip the tip of the green icing bag and pipe the outline. Fill the outline with the same icing color. For the shorts, pipe the outline in blue and fill it with the same icing.
  • For the final touch, add two dots of black icing for the buttons on the shirt. Set the cookies aside to allow the royal icing to set completely before storing.
  • To decorate the gingerbread girls, use the black icing to pipe the outline for the hair. Fill the outline with piped lines to create hair strands.
  • Using the same black icing, pipe 2 dots for the eyes. For the nose and mouth, use the same brown as used for the gingerbread boys.
  • For the blouse, snip the tip of the pink icing bag and pipe the outline. Fill the outline with the same icing.
  • To make the frilly skirt, pipe 3 layers of frills starting from the bottom using yellow icing fitted with tip 101. The icing should be of stiff consistency to hold the shape of the frills.
  • Let the icing set completely before storing the cookies.

Video

Notes

  1. The parchment sheets will prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and counter space. Placing and rolling on the dowel rods on either side of the dough will ensure consistent thickness for your cookies.
  2. This baking time is for cookies measuring approximately 6.5cm long (from head to the toes) and 5cm wide (at the widest part, ie the feet). If you are making larger or smaller cookies, adjust the baking time accordingly.
  3. The cookies can be baked a few days in advance before decorating.
  4. The royal icing in runny consistency should not be too runny. Use the 10 seconds test to get right consistency: Start by adding just a few drops of water into the icing and mix well. Use a butter knife to cut through the icing and count the number of seconds it takes for the line to disappear. Ideally, it should take 10 seconds, not more, not less. To make sure the icing does not accidentally become too runny, it is always advisable to start with a little water at a time until the right consistency is achieved. If it becomes too runny, add some icing in stiff consistency and mix well. You may need to add more coloring too.
  5. To make royal icing with meringue powder, refer to the meringue powder royal icing recipe here.
  6. Royal icing tends to crust very quickly. Fill it into piping bags immediately after mixing and keep the snipped tips of the piping bags covered with a damp cloth when not using. This will prevent the icing from crusting and clogging the holes.

Nutrition

Calories: 98.3kcal | Carbohydrates: 19.9g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1.8g | Saturated Fat: 1.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 7.6mg | Sodium: 62.5mg | Potassium: 15.7mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 14.5g | Vitamin A: 54.7IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.4mg