One of my children’s favorite books is The Gingerbread Man. There are many versions of this story, but the one we used to own was written by Karen Schmidt. My children never tired of it.

Ever.

I’ve considered buying another copy, but knowing that my children can recite it from memory, I decided instead to bring the story to life by making our own gingerbread man.

Along with a few miniature gingerbread men.

These Gingerbread Man Cookies are so comforting.

They are guaranteed to bring a smile to every child’s face.

Now let’s bake some!

First, add some softened butter to your mixer. Go ahead and set a little extra butter on the counter to soften for the icing.

Now add some brown sugar.

And some shortening. Sometimes I use my little cookie/ice cream scoop to measure shortening.

Makes me feel unpredictable and wild.

This right here is THE most important ingredient in gingerbread cookies. Good. Wholesome. molasses.

Give the mix a whirl.

Now. We need a meat group. Egg.

Mix it up and gather your dry ingredients.

Flour.

Baking Soda

Salt

Ok, maybe this is THE most important ingredient in these cookies. Ginger.

It puts the ginger in gingerbread.

And last but certainly not least, add a pinch of pepper. And don’t forget it!

Now mix it all up, scraping the sides of the mixing bowl as needed.

Turn half the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.

And roll it out.

This is the point when I decided I had too much flour on my dough. So I wadded up the dough and rolled it again.

Till it looked like this. Much betta! I like my men thicker rather than thinner.

Cut them all out and transfer them to an ungreased, unlined cookie sheet.

And bake at 350 until you can smell the gingerbread. About  10-12 minutes.

Continue cutting and baking and if you get tired of cutting and baking little gingerbread men….

Make a big un. He bakes in the same amount of time. And the kids will love it. Promise. Cross my heart.

Now for the icing.

Start with your softened butter. And it must be soft! Otherwise it will be lumpy. I just mix my frosting directly in a plastic baggie. No mess.

Add some powdered sugar.

A dab of milk.

And vanilla.

Then seal the bag and start mushing until the mixture is smooth and creamy and delicious.

Then snip a tiny part of the corner off and start decorating!

Here are the printables:

Best Gingerbread Man Cookies

Print recipe

• Print with main photo
• Print text only

Cook time	10 minutes
Meal type	Dessert
Occasion	Christmas

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Butter (softened)
• 1/4 cup Shortening (or 3 cookie/ice cream scoops)
• 1/2 cup Brown sugar (packed)
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 cup Molasses
• 3 cups Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon Ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Pepper

Directions

Step 1

Mix softened butter, shortening, brown sugar, molasses and egg with electric mixer.

Step 2

Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt and pepper to the mixing bowl and mix until combined.

Step 3

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and roll out to desired thickness, about 1/4 inch. Cut with cookie cutter.

Step 4

Transfer cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet, allowing about an inch of space between each cookie. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Best Icing for Cookies

Print recipe

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon butter (softened)
• 1 cup powdered Sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• food coloring (optional)

Note

If the icing still has white specks after mixing, place the bag of icing in the microwave for 15-30 seconds and mix once more. Icing should be smooth and consistent.

Careful not to snip too much of the corner off of the ziplock bag for piping.

 

Directions

Step 1

In a ziplock baggie... combine softened butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla. Mix in bag until smooth. Snip off small piece of ziplock bag's corner to apply.