Eggless Gingerbread Man Cookies | Easy Holiday Bakes

When I was a kid, I remember reading the story of the gingerbread man. An old lady bakes a gingerbread man and lets it cool by the window .Unfortunately, the gingerbread man leaps to life and runs out of the window, shouting 'Don't eat me!'.

Since then I have always had a spot for this cookie. I have looked around for this cookie cutter in many places yet could not find it. Almost a year back, Sharmi lent me this cutter and each time I plan to make this somehow I ended baking something else!

Finally, a few days ago I baked these and the kids loved the shapes and eagerly took them to school for the snack box.From what I heard through the kids,their classmates loved them equally and the two happily shared them with their friends.



I followed Sharmi's recipe.Since the cookie cutter is really small, she warned me that it makes a huge batch.So I made the dough and used only half of it and got almost 50 cookies.So the number of cookies depends on the size of the cookie cutter and also the thickness of the rolled out dough. Also if you don't have this cutter, you can use any other shape as well.

Though I followed Sharmi's recipe, I have made some changes. I have used whole wheat flour here and adjusted the spice quantity. It's been a long time since I used refined flour in bakes.I was a little skeptic in using Whole wheat flour but when I tasted the cookies, I felt my worries were unnecessary!

After making the cookies, I went in search of its history.Wiki states that it was made way back in the 16th century and were served at the court of Elizabeth I, England!! She also made cookies in the shape of important guests! Interesting isn't it!!

I used:
Adapted from : Sharmis Passion
Printable Recipe

Whole wheat flour - 1 1/4 cups
Demerera sugar- 1/4 cup, tightly packed
Honey-1/4 cup
Unsalted butter, at room temperatures- 50 grams
Baking Soda- 1/2 teaspoon
Baking powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt- 1/4 teaspoon
Warm milk-as needed [ see note below]

Spice mix:

Cinnamon powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Black pepper powder- 1/4 teaspoon
Dry ginger powder- 3/4 teaspoon
Clove powder- 1/4 teaspoon
Grated nutmeg - 1/4 teaspoon

Cardamom powder- a large pinch


For the Royal Icing

Finely powdered sugar - 1/4 cup
Corn flour -3/4 teaspoon
Lemon juice - 1/2 teaspoon
Milk- 1-2 teaspoon / as needed
Red and green food colors - as needed

Powder the sugar along with the spice powder and keep aside. In a bowl take the whole wheat flour and add the baking soda, baking powder, salt and mix well.



Cream butter with the sugar till nice and fluffy. Add honey and beat for a minute


 Now add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and form a smooth non sticky dough.I added a little warm milk to as the mixture was a bit dry. Maybe it was because I used whole wheat flour. So, when you make the dough see if it is ok or dry and then add milk if needed. Form a ball of the dough and cling wrap it and let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour


After an hour [or the next day, as in my case!], take out a small portion of the dough and roll it out uniformly. If it is rolled too thick, the cookies will be chewy. If it is too thin, it will bake too fast and burn.Using a gingerbread man cookie cutter, punch out shapes and transfer them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

 
Leave a little gap between the cookies.Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degree C for 10 minutes[see note below]. Once the bottom of the cookie is brown, remove from oven and place on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely. Repeat for the remaining dough.


For the royal icing, take the sugar, corn flour in a bowl and whisk well.


Add lemon juice and mix. Then add milk drop by drop to get a slightly thick yet flowing paste. Divide into three parts and add red and green food color to two of them.


Pack them into small cones which have a very small opening / nozzle. Pipe designs and enjoy decorating the cute gingerbread men.



Note:
I have joined a group of friends in a baking event called Bake-a-thon.We will be posting baked goodies on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays all through December.Do take a look at what we all have baked!!

   

This is part of the Bake-a-thon 2016
 
An InLinkz Link-up

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