Ingredients for Gingerbread Man Cookies

Series Summary

Legend has it that gingerbread men were test subjects for the Mayan creation gods trying to determine what form humans would take. At first they made gingerbread squares, but quickly decided that this shape would limit the mobility and ability to worship of their new subjects. Once they arrived at a shape with two arms and two legs--much more effective for fighting and gathering gold--they celebrated by eating them (the gingerbread men of course, not the humans).

In this series of free Christmas cooking videos, our expert holiday chef demonstrates how to make her delicious recipe for gingerbread man cookies. She begins with a rundown of the equipment and ingredients you need, then takes you step-by-step through the baking process. Learn how to mix the flour and roll the dough, then form it into those ever-familiar cookie men. Your holiday just wouldn't be the same without your cookie friends!

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Jennifer Cail and on behalf of Expert Village, I'm going to show you how to make fun delicious gingerbread men. For our gingerbread men, the first thing I'm going to tell you about what ingredients you'll need. First, you're going to need flour, about five cups. You'll also need to have white granulated sugar, a little bit of salt, we're going to use one cup of shortening for our fat, one egg, some spices including cloves, cinnamon and ginger. We'll need molasses, and little bit of vinegar and for leavening we'll be using baking soda instead of baking powder. Because of the baking soda, that's partially we're using the vinegar because you need that acid in order to interact with the soda. So for the molasses, if you don't like the taste of molasses or you have problems with the smell of it, then you can also substitute dark corn syrup. But really for the full taste of the gingerbread men and that lovely spicy gingerbread taste, you'll want to use molasses."