Chef Thomas
All-Butter Shortbread Fingers
The plainest biscuit in the tin and the hardest one to stop eating, three ingredients and a slow oven turning good butter into something quietly perfect with a cup of tea.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Iced Gingerbread Men
Created by Chef Thomas
Soft, spiced gingerbread men rolled out on a December afternoon and decorated by whoever happens to be in the kitchen, which is usually most of the family.
Pastries & Cookies
British
Christmas
Holiday
30 min
Active Time
12 min cook•PT1H42M plus chilling total
YieldAbout 24 gingerbread men
There's a particular kind of December afternoon when the light has gone by four and the windows have steamed up and someone has put the radio on in the kitchen. Outside it's properly cold. Inside, the oven is on and the whole house smells of ginger and brown sugar and warm butter. This is when you make gingerbread men.
The dough is a forgiving thing. Flour, butter, golden syrup, spice. You roll it out on the kitchen table and press the cutter through, and within ten minutes there's a tray of little people lined up waiting for the oven. The icing comes after, and that's the bit children want to do. Faces drawn slightly wonky. Buttons piped in uneven rows. A few that end up looking startled or sad. None of it matters. They're going to be eaten by Tuesday.
I've been making these every December for as long as I can remember, and the recipe hasn't changed. I wrote it down in the notebook one rainy afternoon years ago: gingerbread, golden syrup, the kitchen full of people. That's still all it needs to be. We're only making biscuits.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
plain flour
Quantity
350g
plus extra for rolling
bicarbonate of soda
Quantity
1 teaspoon
ground ginger
Quantity
2 teaspoons
ground cinnamon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fine sea salt
Quantity
pinch
unsalted butter
Quantity
125g
cubed
soft light brown sugar
Quantity
175g
golden syrup
Quantity
4 tablespoons
large egg
Quantity
1
beaten
vanilla extract
Quantity
1 teaspoon
icing sugar
Quantity
200g
large egg white
Quantity
1
lemon juice
Quantity
a few drops
currants or silver balls (optional)
Quantity
to decorate
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| plain flourplus extra for rolling | 350g |
| bicarbonate of soda | 1 teaspoon |
| ground ginger | 2 teaspoons |
| ground cinnamon | 1 teaspoon |
| fine sea salt | pinch |
| unsalted buttercubed | 125g |
| soft light brown sugar | 175g |
| golden syrup | 4 tablespoons |
| large eggbeaten | 1 |
| vanilla extract | 1 teaspoon |
| icing sugar | 200g |
| large egg white | 1 |
| lemon juice | a few drops |
| currants or silver balls (optional) | to decorate |
Equipment Needed
- •Large mixing bowl
- •Rolling pin
- •Gingerbread man cutter
- •Two baking trays
- •Baking parchment
- •Wire cooling rack
- •Small piping bag or sandwich bag
Instructions
- 1
Make the dough
Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon, and salt into a large bowl. Rub the butter in with your fingertips until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. This is a quiet, satisfying job. Stir in the brown sugar with a fork, breaking up any lumps as you go.
Cold butter, warm hands. Lift the mixture as you rub so air gets through. You're not in a hurry. - 2
Bring it together
Warm the golden syrup gently in a small pan until it loosens and pours easily. Pour it into the flour mixture along with the beaten egg and vanilla. Stir with a wooden spoon until it starts to come together, then bring it into a ball with your hands. The dough should be soft but not sticky. If it feels wet, add a little more flour.
- 3
Chill the dough
Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap it in cling film or baking parchment, and put it in the fridge for at least an hour. This isn't optional. Cold dough rolls beautifully and holds its shape in the oven. Warm dough sticks to everything and gives you sad, blobby gingerbread men.
You can make the dough a day ahead. Leave it in the fridge overnight and bring it back to a workable temperature for ten minutes before rolling. - 4
Roll and cut
Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan and line two baking trays with parchment. Lightly flour a clean surface and roll the dough out to about 5mm thick. Not too thin, not too thick. Press the cutter firmly and lift the little people onto the trays with a palette knife. Gather the scraps, re-roll, and keep going until the dough is used up. The last few will look slightly more rustic than the first. That's fine. They taste the same.
- 5
Bake until golden
Bake for ten to twelve minutes, until the edges are turning a deeper amber and the kitchen smells properly of ginger and brown sugar. They'll feel soft to the touch when they come out and that's how you want them. They firm up as they cool. Leave them on the trays for five minutes before lifting onto a wire rack.
Trust your nose more than the timer. When the smell hits you from the next room, they're nearly there. - 6
Make the icing
Whisk the egg white in a clean bowl until it just turns frothy, no more. Sift the icing sugar in, a bit at a time, beating until you have a smooth, thick icing that holds a ribbon when you lift the whisk. Add a few drops of lemon juice. If it feels stiff, a teaspoon of water will loosen it. Spoon it into a small piping bag or a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off.
- 7
Decorate
Make sure the gingerbread men are completely cool before you start. Pipe faces, buttons, bow ties, whatever you fancy. This is where children take over and the kitchen gets messy in the best way. Press on currants for eyes if you like, or silver balls for buttons. Let the icing set for an hour before stacking or wrapping.
Chef Tips
- •Golden syrup is the soul of this dough. Not honey, not maple syrup, not treacle. Golden syrup gives you that particular caramel warmth and the tender, slightly chewy bite that gingerbread should have. Buy a tin and keep it in the cupboard.
- •Don't roll the dough too thin. Five millimetres is right. Thinner gingerbread men crisp up into snaps, which is a different biscuit and a different mood. You want a bit of give in the middle.
- •If the icing feels too stiff to pipe, add water a few drops at a time. If it feels too loose and runs off the edge, sift in a bit more icing sugar. It's a conversation. Adjust until it holds the line you draw.
- •Stored in a tin between sheets of parchment, they'll keep for a week. They're often better on the second day, when the spices have settled in.
Advance Preparation
- •The dough can be made up to two days ahead and kept wrapped in the fridge. Let it sit out for ten minutes before rolling so it's workable but still cold.
- •Baked, undecorated gingerbread men keep in an airtight tin for up to a week. Decorate the day you want to serve them, or up to two days ahead.
- •The dough also freezes well, wrapped tightly, for up to a month. Defrost overnight in the fridge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 42g)
Calories
165 calories
Total Fat
5 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
19 mg
Sodium
60 mg
Total Carbohydrates
29 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
18 g
Protein
2 g
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