Gingerbread Men - Christmas Ritual 1

Over the last few years,  a lovely ritual of making of gingerbread men has started.  I love the fragrance of them cooking and although we never baked them as children at Christmas, they now are a definite part of my Christmas ritual.

I bought my original gingerbread man cutter years ago, and wanted gingerbread children too, but couldn't found a cutter for them.  My clever Dad bought an Easter Bunny cutter and reshaped it into a "little" baby gingerbread version for me.  Now I can make whole gingerbread families...

Packaged up in little bags, we give them to neighbours and friends with their Christmas cards.

Here is my recipe.  It is very easy, and uses ingredients normally found in the pantry. To use them as tree decorations use a drinking straw to make a hole near the top before you cook them.  When cooled, thread string through the hole to hang.

Gingerbread Men

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1 1/2 tablespoons Ground Ginger

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 cup Brown Sugar

1 Egg, beaten

150g Butter

Sift together the flour, baking soda, ginger and cinnamon.  Add the brown sugar.  Rub in the butter until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.  Beat the egg and add.  Stir together and form a ball with the dough.  Wrap in cling wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 mins.

Heat oven to 180oC.  Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of baking paper to stop it sticking to the rolling pin, about 1/2 cm thick.  Cut out gingerbread men and bake for about 8-10 minutes or until golden and cooked.

Yum!