Gingerbread Men

[carli410]

Anyone have a tried-and-true recipe for Gingerbread Men?? I realize they will need to be a certain stiffness to cut and decorate, but in the past the recipes I've tried have been hard as a rock. I would love a recipe for nice, soft, gingerbread cookies that are still firm enough to decorate. Thanks!

Comments

[onelargecat]

I don't have a recipe handy, b/c I haven't made gingerbread cookies in a few years, so I'm also interested in good recipes people might have.

However, I'm wondering...it sounds like you are trying to decorate the cookies after you bake them? I've never done it that way (although maybe that's how most people do it??? I don't know). Otherwise I can't think why the dough would be "hard as a rock."

[carli410]

How Im curious as to how you decorate your cookies before you bake?! :)

When I say decorate, I mean using icing to glue on candies, colored sugars, etc. Like a gingerbread house. In my experience, gingerbread cookies are too hard. Id like them to be soft enough to eat, but firm enough to decorate.

[onelargecat]

I've never used icing on them, so I hadn't thought about that. I guess icing might melt in the oven. And I guess my way doesn't work for gingerbread houses. Heh. But for just gingerbread men, I just use all the candies and colored sugars and sprinkles and stuff and put it right on the dough...just push it in slightly and it stays, b/c it's dough (no need for icing to hold it on), then bake them, decorations and all.

I'm kind of cracking up b/c I never even though about baking them first and then decorating. Which is probably the "right" way, but for some reason I just do it all first before baking. :)

[carli410]

Im cracking up because it never occurred to me to decorate first..LOL. Its kind of pointless in my situation because my plan is to get a bunch of kids together for gingerbread men decorating...and the would need icing and candies to do it. But this is a very interesting perspective!