Eggless Gingerbread Men Cookies

In this holiday season, I have planned to share many baking recipes. I am starting with this cute looking gingerbread people. I have made both gingerbread man and girl. The cookies came out perfect, the best. Icing tastes good too but I have not done a good job while decorating. I know I am not good at it. But who cares, It tastes good in my mouth. These gingerbread men cookies are loaded with warm winter spices with sweet taste. All the spices have distinct wonderful aroma and it gets so fragrant as it bakes. Making the cookies require some time. I mean it calls for chilling the dough, then rolling. Again chilling the rolled dough and cutting the cookies using cutter. And again it needs to be chilled before baking so the cookies will hold its perfect shape and do not spread out while baking. Basically it is easy to make but chilling time is required. The texture of the gingerbread man cookies are soft, slightly crunchy and chewy. If you like crispy cookies then bake little longer. I prefer the soft texture. because the crispy one gets more chewy which I don’t like at all. How do you prefer your gingerbread men, crispy or soft? For the decorating the cookies, I have kept the icing white. Because I don’t feel like adding color. It is not that I am against. But I don’t enjoy the decorating part, so I kept it simple. Red and green colored icing make the cookies more beautiful and attractive, also more festive looking. Check out other similar eggless recipes Eggless ginger cookies  //  Eggless gingersnaps  //  Eggless gingerbread cake

Step By Step Photo Instructions:

1. First mix the dry ingredients. Take all purpose flour, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, grated nutmeg, salt and baking powder in a bowl.
2. Whisk it well so everything is incorporated well. Keep it aside.
3. In another large bowl, take softened butter, oil and light brown sugar.
4. Beat it well using wire whisk by hand till it is light and fluffy. (or use stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand mixer).
5. Now add molasses.
6. Again beat it till it is mixed.
7. Now add the flour mixture.
8. Start beating again till it is well combined. Half way through I switched to spatula. The dough is very crumbly.
9. Now line a surface with plastic wrap. Dump all the dough on the wrap.
10. This dough is slightly sticky, so I have not used my bare hands. with the help of plastic wrap, bring the dough together.
11. Make flat square or round. Wrap it well. Chill in the fridge until firm (keep in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight. Or freeze it for 20-30 minutes for quick chilling).
12. Now the dough is hard and chilled well. Remove it and let it stand for 5 minutes, so it softens slightly. If you roll the hard dough, you will get many cracks. While the dough is softening line a baking sheet using parchment paper and keep it aside.
13. Now take two pieces of parchment paper. Line one on the work surface, put the dough on it and cover with second paper.
14. Once dough softens slightly, start rolling it. Roll out the dough to a thickness of about ¼ inch.
15. As you roll, dough starts to soften more and starts to get sticky. So once it is rolled out, take it carefully and put on the cookie sheet and chill it again till it is firm. (I have kept in freezer for 15 minutes.)
16. Once chilled, now peel the top parchment paper.
17. Cut out the cookies using the gingerbread man cookie cutter. Here I have used gingerbread man and girl both.
18. Use the flat spatula to lift the cookies and arrange them on prepared cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.
19. Now you will have scrapes.
20. Gather everything and make the smooth ball.
21. Again same as above use the parchment paper.
22. and roll out the dough to a thickness of ¼ inch.
23. Cut out using the cookie cutter.
24. My gingerbread girl is bigger in size compared to the boy. So I am going to bake both separately. So in the one sheet I have 6 girls. In another cookie sheet I have 9 boys.
25. One arranged them on the sheet, again chill in the fridge or freezer. This chilling will help to maintain its shape while baking. If not chilled then it will spread as it bakes and you won’t get the perfect men shape.
26. Now turn the oven on and preheat at 350 degrees F or 180 degrees C for at least 10 minutes.
27. Now the cutout cookies are chilled. Bake into preheated oven for about 7-10 minutes (depending on the size of your cookies. my cookie cutter size is 2 ½ – 3 inches). For me, girl took 10 minutes.
28. While boy took 8 minutes baking time. Let them cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes.
29. Then transfer them on wire rack to cool completely.
30. While cookies are cooling, make the icing. Take powdered sugar, corn flour in a bowl.
31. Add vanilla and start with little milk at a time.
32. Mix it till you get thick icing. The consistency should be thick not runny at all.
33. Prepare the icing bag. you can use ziplock bag and cut the small tip. Once cookies are cooled completely, start decorating.
34. I am not good at it and I don’t have patience for that. I am sure you will do much better job than me.Happy Holidays !!! Serving suggestion: Enjoy these gingerbread men cookies anytime of the day. Make the edible ornaments for your Christmas tree using this cookies.

Expert Tips:

If you are going to hang it to your tree, pierce a hole in a top of each unbaked cookies using wood skewer or a straw. Then bake till it is crisp. Since we are hanging these, we need crispy cookies, so bake for a minute or two longer.Always use the fresh ground spices. Otherwise the taste will be flat.Molasses is sticky liquid. So grease the measuring cup or use the cooking oil spray. It will make your job much easier without sticking to the cup.There are few substitutes for molasses if it is not available where you live, but you will miss the flavor for sure. You can use same amount of honey or maple syrup or dark corn syrup or golden syrup. Alternately, heat ½ cup+ 2 tablespoons of light or dark brown sugar + 2 tablespoons of water till it is melted and heated through. Let it cool down completely. Use this syrup in place of molasses.Chilling the dough is very important throughout the whole process. So Don’t skip any of the chilling part in the recipe.

Did you try this eggless gingerbread men cookies recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a review in the comment section below.