Recipe: Gingerbread Man

As mentioned in an earlier post, Gingerbread Man is something I always wanted to do but yet took such a long time before I get into the kitchen to start baking. I remember I always find the recipes rather 'unfriendly' as there are some ingredients that looks so alien to me.

Most gingerbread recipes usually contains an ingredient called 'molasses' which we do not usually have it at home. Hence, this always give me a reason (or excuse) for me to not get started. Determined to do it this year, I went online to find a recipe that is simple and can be easily made.

The recipe I found on mycookinghut.com is simple with ingredients that I can get from any supermarket locally. In fact, I managed  to baked at least 30-40 medium-size Gingerbread Man.

You will not believe how excited I am when I see (and taste) the final product. It is heartening that it received pretty good review from my friends and they wanted to try after seeing the photo I posted on Facebook.

Do note that the recipe may not be as hard/crunchy as a cookie as it is more like a gingerbread that is soft.

I can't decide which picture to post, so i decided to post all 4 here! :) Aren't they cute? This is my first try in making the Gingerbread Man! Getting ready for X*mas! #weecancook

A photo posted by Jaron Tng 唐偉亮 (@w33liang) on Dec 12, 2014 at 5:41am PST

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Gingerbread Man

Ingredients:
125g butter, softened plus extra for greasing
100g brown sugar
125ml golden syrup
1 egg, separated
375g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp mixed spice
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

150g icing sugar
1-2 drops red food colouring
1-2 drops blue food colouring

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Lightly grease the baking tray(s) with melted butter.
2. Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the golden syrup and egg yolk. Beat them well. 
3. Stir in the flour, ginger, mixed spice and bicarbonate of soda. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Press dough into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
4. Use an electric beater to beat the egg white until soft peaks form. 
5. Gradually add icing sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. 
6. Divide icing among 3 bowls. Cover 1 bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Add red and blue colourings to the remaining two bowls respectively. Store them in the fridge like the first bowl.
7. Take out the dough and roll out until about 4mm thick. Use a gingerbread man cutter to cut out shapes. Place on trays about 2-3cm apart. Repeat with any excess dough.
8. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until brown. Remove from oven. Transfer to a rack to cool.
9. Place prepared icings in small plastic bags. Cut a small hole in a corner of each bag. Pipe icing over gingerbread men to decorate.

Tips:

1. You may want to place the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper so that it will not stick to the roller.
2. Put the remaining dough back to fridge after you have filled up the baking tray so that the dough remains manageable for cuts.
3. Replaced some brown sugar with white sugar if you like the final product to be slightly harder.