Gingerbread Man Sugar Cookies
Gingerbread man sugar cookies are rich sugar cookies that are topped with delicious frosting. These whimsical cookies are sure to land you on the nice list!
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups cake flour
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ cup salted sweet cream butter softened
- ¼ cup butter-flavored shortening
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large whole egg
- 1 large egg white
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
Icing
- 2¼ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon clear vanilla flavoring
- ½ teaspoons almond flavoring
- 2 to 3 tablespoons milk
- Royal blue food color gel or blue nonpareils
- Orange food color gel
Instructions
Cookies
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and cream of tartar. Set it aside.
- Using a stand mixer, or a large mixing bowl and a handheld mixer on medium-high speed, beat together the softened butter, butter flavored shortening and granulated sugar for 1½ to 2 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add the large whole egg and vanilla extract. Beat just until the egg is incorporated.
- Add the large egg white and mix until well combined.
- Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix just until the flour is incorporated and smooth. Cover tightly and chill in the refrigerator overnight, or for at least 10 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Lightly flour your working surface with flour.
- Divide the cookie dough in half. Lightly flour the top of the dough.
- Using a rolling pin, carefully roll the dough out to ¼ inch to ⅜ inch.
- Lightly flour the edges of the gingerbread man cookie cutter and cut your cookies.
- Evenly space the gingerbread men, 6 per baking sheet.
- Remove the cookies and allow them to rest until they are completely cooled. While they are cooling, make the icing.
Icing
- Using a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, light corn syrup, vanilla flavoring, almond flavoring, and milk. Continue to stir until no lumps are visible and the icing is smooth.
- Using 2 small mixing bowls, measure ¼ cup of icing for the blue food color and 2 to 3 tablespoons for the orange food color.
- Add 4 to 5 drops of the royal blue and 2 to 3 drops of the orange color. Stir well.
- Using either a decorator's bag and a small decorator's tip (Wilton’s #5 tip), or a quart-size Ziploc with a small snip in a corner, carefully outline the edge of the gingerbread man with the untinted icing. Once outlined, carefully fill in the rest of the cookie. Repeat for the other gingerbread men.
- If you are using blue nonpareils for the eyes and buttons, place them before the icing begins to harden.
- If you are using the blue-tinted icing, repeat the process of filling the decorator's bag fitted with the small tip or the snipped Ziploc bag.
- Carefully dot the eyes and buttons for the gingerbread men.
- Repeat the process of the decorators bag or snipped Ziploc bag for the orange-tinted icing.
- Carefully make a small sideways triangle shape for the carrot nose.
- Allow the cookies to completely dry.
Notes
It is very important that the dough chills for a bare minimum of 10 hours. 12 hours is even better. It may seem like a long time, but it is well worth the wait.
The cookie dough is perfect for all different shapes of cookie cutters and any time of year.
Oven temperatures vary and may need to be recalibrated periodically to ensure they are accurate. Make sure to keep a close eye on your cookies as the suggested baking time approaches.
The easiest way to ice the cookie is to hold the bag straight up to the cookie to make the outline of icing. You can steady the piping hand with your other hand, too, if needed. Keep going around the outline filling the icing in. Then use the toothpick to smooth it out. You don't have to wait for the outline to dry before filling in the rest of the white icing.
For adding the eyes, buttons, and nose, there are two options. You can add them right on top of the freshly piped icing, and they will sink just a little bit into the icing and make a smooth surface, or you can let the white icing harden to touch just a bit (maybe 30 minutes to 1 hour or even overnight depending on your house temp) and then pipe the features on top, and they will be raised just a little.
The icing usually sets within just a few hours but is perfect if left to dry overnight.