Gingerbread, in any form, makes me genuinely happy. And nostalgic. And as much as I get tempted to create weird and wonderful gingerbread confections, in my heart I feel compelled to embrace the utmost in tradition and go with the classic holiday cookie: the gingerbread man . . . or woman. Heck, let us just call them gingerbread folk. Timeless, tasty and so darn cute.
What I love about vintage gingerbread folk is that they are actually sort of girly and boyish all at once. My inspiration for these cookies (not that the holidays alone aren’t enough gingerbread inspiration) came from this adorable little guy whom I spotted on Pinterest awhile back (originally from here). I just can’t get enough of him. So my cakelets and I created some classic gingerbread folk, but rather than create a whole village of small ones, we decided to do something different and create a jumbo version . . .
Cakelet approved! As I sat down to source a jumbo cutter, I remember when we created the Little Hands Sugar Cookies last year, we simply made a template out of cardstock and then I cut the dough using an x-acto-style knife. It worked so well, that I figured we could do the same with the mega gingerbread man. (That being said, you could do that with any shape you like.) So we made ours about 8″ x 11″, which was perfect for printing the template straight from the computer.
The dough itself is my go-to gingerbread recipe, and dare I call this my Perfect Gingerbread Cookie recipe. It’s spicy, dark and rolls like a dream. It bakes up with a slight crisp around the edge, but the remainder of the cookie is semi-soft. (If you over-bake they will be dry and crispy). I use cooking molasses, which is a very robust molasses (not as robust as blackstrap, but a mix of fancy and blackstrap). It also makes for handsomely dark gingerbread men, but if you’re not into strong molasses flavour, you can always use any molasses you like. I should mention that, I’ve tried many-a-gingerbread-dough, and this recipe is a hybrid of what I liked about each one. If you chill, chill, chill the cookies will keep their shape nicely, but (unlike sugar cookies) they will expand a tad.
With a quick snip of the shape from the cardstock, you can then cut around the template, pop it onto your baking sheet (1 per sheet in this case), chill and bake. Since they’re so big (the recipe makes 7 total), hand-cutting isn’t really that tedious. I’ve included the template I used, but honestly you could even draw your own if you prefer a slightly different shape. You can even have your kids draw their own and you can cut out and bake their own version. Either way, this is such a fun project for kids (big and small).
Our cakelets loved this and it kept them busy for the longest time (yes!). I used two resealable plastic bags for royal icing then filled some cupcake liners with an array of chocolate chips, dragees, sprinkles, candy canes, jelly dots, and more and let them do their thing.
Before they started, I printed a bunch of the templates for the girls to colour, just for fun and to possibly design their cookies. Reese opted for a super-classic and conservative design, and followed her paper design to a tee.
Neve opted to ditch the design and went balls-to-the-wall topping-happy with her cookie. We all had a giggle about this, and thought –with all of that candy piled on there–her cookie won the prize for the most delightful and delicious looking. ♥
Happy Jumbo Gingerbread Folk!
Just when I thought our cookies were jumbo, I came across this cutter decoration last night while at my local HomeSense. I almost died. My heart literally skipped a beat! That would have been the best $49.99, I’d ever spent. Sadly it would never fit in my car.
For now, we’ll stick with the not-as-jumbo version. I kept my decorations pretty simple: royal icing swirls/eyes/mouths, jelly dot buttons and cheeks and candy heart noses. ♥
- 7 cups 910 g all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons 12 g cinnamon
- 4 teaspoons 12 g ground ginger
- 1-1/2 teaspoons 11 g salt
- 1 teaspoon 6 g baking soda
- 1 teaspoon 3 g ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 cup 227 g(2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup 235 g packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup 100 g granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs cold
- 1-1/2 cups 355 ml cooking molasses*
- 2 teaspoons 10 ml pure vanilla extract
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In large bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, baking soda, cloves and nutmeg. Set aside.
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In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy and pale, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and beat in eggs one at a time, scraping sides of bowl between additions. Add molasses and vanilla and beat until completely incorporated.
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Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Dough should be soft (not dry or crumbly) but not sticky. If sticky, add a few tablespoons of flour until desired consistency is achieved.
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Remove 1/2 of dough from bowl, make a ball, and place on a large piece of plastic wrap on counter.Wrap the sides of wrap over the ball, then press down with the palm of your hand and make a disc about 2" thick. Finish wrapping the disc with the plastic wrap. Repeat with 2nd half of dough. Chill both discs of dough for at least 2 hours.
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Remove one disc and remove plastic wrap. Place on top of a large piece of lightly floured parchment or wax paper (I use a silicone rolling mat underneath to ensure it doesn't slip while rolling, but you can even dampen counter so the parchment sticks a bit.), then place two 1/4" wooden dowels on either side of your dough, then another sheet of parchment paper.
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Roll dough (this will require a bit of elbow grease for the first few minutes until it softens up a bit) so it's flush with dowels--they will ensure that your dough is even thickness.
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Preheat your oven to 350° F. Slide your parchment paper and dough onto a board, then place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or freezer for 15 minutes (or more).
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Remove from fridge, and cut your shapes using the cutters or template of choice, placing them on a baker's half sheet lined with a silicone baking mat (or parchment), with 2" clearance around each one and the edge of sheet. Place sheet with cookies into freezer for 15 minutes before baking. Bake for 7 minutes, tap tray on counter, and return to oven, rotating tray. Bake until edges just start to brown, about 6 more minutes. Be careful not to over-bake, or cookies will be dry.
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Cool sheets on wire racks for 20 minutes, then gently remove cookies and place on wire racks to finish cooling. If cookies are too fragile, you can cool completely on trays.
*Use cooking molasses for a more dark and robust gingerbread cookie, or if you prefer a lighter tasting gingerbread, use fancy/unsulphured molasses.
- 7 cups 910 g all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons 12 g cinnamon
- 4 teaspoons 12 g ground ginger
- 1-1/2 teaspoons 11 g salt
- 1 teaspoon 6 g baking soda
- 1 teaspoon 3 g ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 cup 227 g(2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup 235 g packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup 100 g granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs cold
- 1-1/2 cups 355 ml cooking molasses*
- 2 teaspoons 10 ml pure vanilla extract
-
In large bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, ginger, salt, baking soda, cloves and nutmeg. Set aside.
-
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars on medium-high speed until fluffy and pale, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and beat in eggs one at a time, scraping sides of bowl between additions. Add molasses and vanilla and beat until completely incorporated.
-
Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Dough should be soft (not dry or crumbly) but not sticky. If sticky, add a few tablespoons of flour until desired consistency is achieved.
-
Remove 1/2 of dough from bowl, make a ball, and place on a large piece of plastic wrap on counter.Wrap the sides of wrap over the ball, then press down with the palm of your hand and make a disc about 2" thick. Finish wrapping the disc with the plastic wrap. Repeat with 2nd half of dough. Chill both discs of dough for at least 2 hours.
-
Remove one disc and remove plastic wrap. Place on top of a large piece of lightly floured parchment or wax paper (I use a silicone rolling mat underneath to ensure it doesn't slip while rolling, but you can even dampen counter so the parchment sticks a bit.), then place two 1/4" wooden dowels on either side of your dough, then another sheet of parchment paper.
-
Roll dough (this will require a bit of elbow grease for the first few minutes until it softens up a bit) so it's flush with dowels--they will ensure that your dough is even thickness.
-
Preheat your oven to 350° F. Slide your parchment paper and dough onto a board, then place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or freezer for 15 minutes (or more).
-
Remove from fridge, and cut your shapes using the cutters or template of choice, placing them on a baker's half sheet lined with a silicone baking mat (or parchment), with 2" clearance around each one and the edge of sheet. Place sheet with cookies into freezer for 15 minutes before baking. Bake for 7 minutes, tap tray on counter, and return to oven, rotating tray. Bake until edges just start to brown, about 6 more minutes. Be careful not to over-bake, or cookies will be dry.
-
Cool sheets on wire racks for 20 minutes, then gently remove cookies and place on wire racks to finish cooling. If cookies are too fragile, you can cool completely on trays.
*Use cooking molasses for a more dark and robust gingerbread cookie, or if you prefer a lighter tasting gingerbread, use fancy/unsulphured molasses.
Sweetapolita’s Notes:
- Here’s the Jumbo Gingerbread Man template. Simply print this onto standard 8.5″ x 11″ thick white paper (I used a basic card-stock) and then cut around the outline. This is also a great template to print for kids to colour. I found this template on a teacher’s resource site, where you can find countless other ideas.
- Removing the large cookies from the baking sheet can be tricky, so I use this (and for all of my cakes): Wilton Cake and Cookie Lifter
.
- For tips and photos on rolling dough, you can check out a past post, Steps to Making the Perfect Sugar Cookie {and Cookie Pop}.
- For piping the eyes, mouth and swirls, I used royal icing in a small piping bag fitted with a plain round #3 tip.
- I secured the jelly dots and hearts with a dab of royal icing.
Good luck & enjoy!
I so love your posts Rosie because it’s impossible not to read them without a huge smile on my face! And I am very keen on Neve’s technique of putting as much icing and candy onto the poor gingerbread man as possible ;)
Lovely lovely post Rosie! They look delicious, and that massive gingerbread cutter is brilliant!
These are so adorable! I wouldn’t have thought to cut a shape out on card stock and then trace it onto the dough. What a good idea! Can’t wait to try that with some other shapes. And I really love that you used the word “Folk” instead of “Men” or “People”. I’m not sure why, but I do. :)
I have been waiting patiently for you to put this recipe up. I am going to do this for the kiddos on Christmas Eve! Thanks for the great idea!! :)
I love the classics too ~ that photo of your little gal is precious!
Oh my god Rosie, these are lovely. You’re a genius! I would have never thought about making some jumbo gingerbread folks. I think these make some great Christmas gifts too. :) You surprise me everytime!
Just a little question, what can I use to substitute the meringue powder? I can’t find it where I live.
Congrats on the post, it’s one of my favourite! xo
oh my gosh I now need to go to home sense!!!! Those cookies are adorable as are the girls:) But I want that cookie cutter how awesome is that?!
These are so adorable! Wow. Just wow. Also, Reese’s gingerbread cookie has some pretty nifty eyelalashes and eyebrows.
That gigantic cookie cutter is amazing. Love your giant gingerbread folk, they just look so happy.
Oh I love these so much! So classic, and yet extra sweet with your extra little touches!
Love this Rosie. Beautiful pics and recipe!
Über- great ginger folk. If I may say so: My favourite ist the one with the eyelashes. It got very fancy eyebrows too. Cakelate did awsome job.
That is the cutest….gingerbread man and cakelets!
Rosie, this is a dream mama/daughter project. My girls are going to lose their minds when I show them this post.
These are so incredible!! It’s like a life sized friend that you can eat!
Love the post! The girls look like they are having a blast making and decorating these giant gingerbread men. Oh, what fun!
beyond fabulous! xoxox
wow. my 4 kids would LOVE this!
Oh! I just finished making a batch of gingerbread! If only I had seen this recipe 30 minutes ago….
Adorable– it’s huge and i love it!!
Adorable, just adorable! Thank you.
So adorable, I bet they had a blast decorating!
These are darling. I love the huge gingerbread person – now that would be a cookie!
Thanks Rosie for posting this ginger bread cookie recipe. I have been waiting for it. I know I could have found hundreds on the web somewhere but i wanted to use yours. I saw the giant ginger bread cookie cutter at home goods a couple of weeks. I would have bought it but I don’t have an oven big enough for it. Have yourself a wonderful time this holiday.
You are amazing! What a fun, festive, adorable post! I will remember this in a couple years to share with my 1 year old granddaughter! xox
Thanks Rosie for sharing us these wonderful and delightful. Since i made gingerbread the other day, now i love any recipe with molasses . Definitely i have to make these cookies with my three boys. I´m sure that we will enjoy them.
I love your posts ,always they make me happy.And your pictures are so professional.
Greetings from spain,
Patricia.
I prefer the classic Gingerbread folks as well, I guess it’s tradition. Though the new tradition may just become, Jumbo Gingerbread Folks!
Wow! What a cute idea! Your little girls are so incredibly cute and precious!
I seriously cannot wait until my little girl wants to bake with me! She’s kind of interested now, but it’s more of a supervised destruction than anything else.
I love the giant gingerbread guys/girls!
I could never imagine making a gingerbread man that ginormous! Man oh man would I have a ball eating that thing :)
These are too cute!!
When I saw your photo of the giant gingerbread man I had to do a double take! I took almost the EXACT same photo when I was at my local Home Goods in New Jersey and posted it to my Facebook page. I kind of kicked myself for not getting it, but I really don’t have a ton of storage or wall space! ;)
These cookies look delightful! And I like the idea of the jumbo cookies … the fun of decorating without having to do it endlessly!
Rosie, I have not made Gingerbread FOLK in many years, but this is certainly convincing. The only thing cuter than your Gingerbread man are your girls!! What cutie-pies!
They look awesome!! :) and delicious :D
Oh your jumbo ginger folks are lovely and the kids too. Thanks for the great idea, on “How to keep the kids busy as LOOOONG as possible on Christmas eve” !!! ;)
Too cute! Thanks for the template. I am going to make this.
Hi! I just found your website randomly and I loooove it! Very nicely done! I’m currently in my third and last year of training as a pastry chef in Germany and will certainly be coming back to your site for more!
These are adorable! Is your recipe also good for making gingerbread houses? I’ve been looking for a good “edible” gingerbread house recipe.
I am dying of cuteness overload!!!!!!! ♥
First – your cakelets are adorable! Second – LOVE the jumbo gingerbread cookies! Third – Do you think jumbo sugar cookies would work as well? My daughter loves to decorate cookies, but it takes so long to do all the “regular” sized ones. I could have her do a few big ones and be done with it. Maybe use them as gift toppers (wrapped in celophane, of course)! Or have her and her cousins decorate their own giant sugar cookies at her birthday party. Oh the possibilities!
I always love mini things, but super-sized just really works here. Thank you for sharing your kids and such amazing ideas/recipes!
(sorry for rambling!)
They’re so huge!!!
What a fun idea!!
A ton of fun was had by all as is evident in the beautiful photographs. I swear I even hear the gingerbread folk giggling ;)
Such a good idea!! My favorite is Neve’s gingerbread man, lots of candies is the most perfect design! and i’m sure, the yummiest!
Merry christmas in advance!
OH MY!!!!
I want to make some tooooo!!
My goodness.
I can’t get over how grown up the girls look!!!!!
Oh my heart!!
xoxo
I love these… and will be making them. Thank you for this!
Who would’ve thought gingerbread folk could get any more adorable? Then, there you go and simply make them oversized…and even cuter!!!
THESE ARE HUGE!! But they are so adorable! I miss making gingerbread men!
Would it be okay to use light brown sugar? I have a ton of it already and don’t want to have to go out and buy the dark brown sugar for this if I don’t have to! Thanks!
Renee
Hi Renee,
Sure thing–you can use any form of brown sugar. The darker variety will lend to a darker cookie, but the difference will be slight. I hope this helps!
You make me so jealous of your children! I wish my mom made gigantic gingerbread men!
Bahhh how freaking cute are these?! Love it!
The jumbo gingerbread are fantastic! What a fun mom you are. : ) Looks like everyone had a great time making memories and gingerbread people.
so beautiful!! and happy cookie
those look adorable – and that giant cutter is awesome, would you mind letting me know which homesense you spotted it in – I would absolutely love to get my hands on that!
thanks!
This is one of the cutest posts I’ve ever seen. Love those gigantic gingerbread men. Can’t tell who’s more adorable–your little girl, or the huge cookie she’s holding! Wonderful.
Love it! I just baked gingerbread today but they were overcooked… whoopsies!
Too too sweet! Loving those adorable cakelets and their gingerbread friends!
I was looking for gingerbread recipes today and came across this post, I love it! Jumbo gingerbread men! :)
Your gingerbread folk are darling and I am smitten! I made a 9-inch grandma gingerbread cookie (with a cutter) to go along with the grandchildren size cookies, but I think next time the grandkids will each get a giant one!
Gorgeous photos!
Hi :) I’ve never commented on sweetapolita before, although I’ve lurked for quite some time. Too intimidated by the amount of comments to scroll through to get to the bottom! But then I saw the picture of your baby girl and the ginormously aweeeesome gingerbread on pinterest and thought, well, now’s a better time than never! Love this. Now I’ll be counting down the days to Christmas. #radpost
My boyfriend bought me the Giant GingerBread Man! It was our second date and we were going to go bowling. He told me to look in the back seat of his car and it was there! It was like OMG! I must say it is a great conversation starter. And we are selling my house and when we have open houses people ask more about the GIANT gingerbread man then the house itself! lol
That’s so awesome, Samantha!That’d pretty much seal the deal for me ;)
Where did you get the jelly hearts for the nose? Thanks!
Any chance of being able to get one of the gingerbread men cookie cutters now?
Thanks
I loved the idea and the recipe, so I would like to make it, but I would have to transfer it to the other town (by train). Whether it will crack or crumble during the trip? :)
I love gingerbread cookies. Make them every year. And every year I am disappointed with the results. They spread into unrecognizable shapes; they are mushy; some are like crackers. So now I’ve got to try your recipe.
My question: how many smaller, more standard size gingerbread folks will this recipe make? I’m thinking I should cut this recipe in half. Will that be possible and still get similar results as you?
Thank you!
I was just wondering what size dowels you used for rolling. I can’t wait to try these! & Great pictures by the way. :)
Hi Morgan! I use 1/4″ dowels for rolling the cookies. Thanks for the kind words!
Hi, can you please tell me which homesence you saw the gingerbread cookie cutter at? I live in Canada. Thanks so much. Have a blessed Christmas!
Thank you for this fabulous holiday project and recipe! I spent this afternoon having a Christmas Eve Day jumbo gingerbread folk decorating party with my daughter and her best mate. Loads of fun memories made! Happy Holidays!
Love these giant Gingerbread Folk!
I just have to make these this year for my 2 grandsons, they will love them!
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I finally got around to trying this recipe and I LOVE it. I’m holding a cookie decorating party for my kids in a few weeks and making a giant gingerbread for each guest. This recipe makes a stable gingerbread that is also completely delicious. My trial batch didn’t last long!
I think if you bake the cookies on parchment or wax paper you can slide them off of the cookie sheet effortlessly onto cooling racks. Thanks for the recipe and pattern. This takes care of a few Christmas gifts this year!
These are so cute! I have a giant gingerbread shaped man baking tray, can I lay the dough on it or do I have to cut it out and put them onto a normal baking sheet?
Thanks.
Made these today! Great recipe and fantastic instructions!!! Such a great find – THANK YOU!!!!!
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Hi Rosie
This is sooo cute! I was wondering what’s the thickness of your cookie. 10 mm or 6 mm ?
Thank you!
Just came across this posting today while looking for something else gingerbread related. Boy I wish I had seen this before Christmas. My father’s family has a gingerbread cookie recipe that at minimum I know is a 150 years old (they always called them “ginger cakes”) and to my father, THOSE cookies, even at age 79, ARE Christmas for him. I’m going to assume you know what the old lard cans were (always silver as far as I know) which is how people up until the 1950s or so acquired their lard for cooking and baking everyday. The cans, the tins, were actually extremely useful for other uses after they were emptied of lard. I would say they are twice the size at least of the standard tins of popcorn, usually with 3 varieties, which are found in stores today. Although….this past Christmas I don’t think I saw them nearly as often as I usually did. Anyway, my great-grandmother (the dearest, sweetest, kindest woman God ever placed on this earth) baked several of those lard cans full of “gingercakes” during my dad’s childhood. He and his mother lived with his grandparents (and until he was 5 his great-grandfather Garnand) and one of his aunts. So there were lots of people to eat cookies. I’m sure my dad’s friends were always in and out too. There may have actually been other family come and go at times too. At one point I was told 13 people lived in my house, the old family homeplace. Maybe that’s why Memaw baked so MANY of these cookies. Anyway, my dad said it was usually getting into March before the last of the cookies were gone. In my childhood, Memaw and Nanny were my babysitters for the first 13 years of my life, and she only did about one can full. My mom and I usually do a double batch of the dough now, which is so much we mix it in an oval metal dishpan. (picture the old fashion white ones with a red trim on the edge) and that bakes quite a lot. Naturally it takes time to roll dough and cut cookies to fill a baking sheet. So my mom when I used to still live at home would have batches of other cookies, usually drop cookies, which she bake in the oven so all that energy and time wasn’t wasted running the oven while I filled baking sheets of gingercakes. We always did this on Black Friday. We had tried when I was 9 or so shopping on Black Friday and after nearly being trampled to death once or twice we both said, no thank you. So we renamed that day for us our Traditional Cookie Baking Day. That’s when we began our holiday baking. I can’t even BEGIN to imagine filling several lard cans full of gingercake cookies. My dad used to be able to walk home from school for lunch every day. I bet he got a cookie or 3 or 4 to eat on the way back to school every day. I can just hear Memaw now if she saw a massive gingerbread boy like this. She would have loved it, so would have my great-grandfather. She passed away suddenly from a massive stroke when I was 13 years old. The day before her 83rd birthday. It shattered my world. It’s been 45 years since that day and I still miss her ever day of my life. I guess living in her house and using items that were hers doesn’t help that any. Anyway,the entire reason I decided to write a comment is I saw the giant cookie cutter and based on the comment about it, the cost of the cutter was ONLY $49.99? That’s amazing. On the website today they have regular size cutters almost this price. (which I REFUSE to pay) I would have found SOME way to get that home. I would DEARLY love to have that today. I’d pay $99.99 I think for that. However I wondered when I began reading this posting if you have found a cutter this large for the 12 or so inch boy or if you used a template. Obviously I discovered the answer as I read along. My mom, who probably still has it, had a Mickey Mouse cutter about 8-inches tall which we would do a few cookies with each year but we had problems with the head breaking from the body. The cookies seems very stable considering their size. Did you do anything differently for stability for these cookies? I would DEARLY love to do one of these next year for my dad as a surprise. Also, I did this a few times years ago. Have you ever made a gingerbread bowl? I’m thinking it MIGHT be something I learned from Martha Stewart back in the 80s or 90s but I can’t be sure any longer. It is extremely easy to create. Cover a heatproof bowl, Pyrex mixing bowls or Longaberger ones are good in the size bowl you want to create. Turn the bowl upside down and completely cover with foil. Roll a large sheet of gingerbread dough, enough to cover the bowl. Transfer as best as you can the dough over the foil cutting excess from where it hits the baking sheet. For decoration use a small cutter and at least 2 inches or more from the edge of the bowl cut the pattern every 4 or 5 inches entirely around bowl. Now.. bake the bowl the same as the cookies. Remove from oven allowing to completely cool before touching. The cookie bowl should lift from the bowl in one piece. Turn right side up. Thread ribbon through the cut designs if desired and fill bowl with normal size gingerbread cookies. You can add real pine if desired, decorate anyway you desire. However do treat the bowl gently. It’s quite a conversation piece and everyone wonders how it is created. I haven’t though of those in years. I’ll have to remember it for next year. Thanks