Whole Wheat Gingerbread Men … Christmas cookies with a heart
‘Gingerbread Men’
Stir a bowl of gingerbread, smooth and spicy brown,
Roll it with a rolling-pin, up and up and down.
With a cookie cutter, make some little men,
Put them in the oven, until half past ten.
Author unknown
Whole Wheat Gingerbread Men … I call them cookies with a heart even though I cut them out! There’s really nothing like cute little gingerbread men to bring a smile to your face. I’ve been making these for years, almost now a Christmas tradition.
I love the deep cinnamon and ginger flavours that get heightened by earthy whole wheat flour. For 100% whole grain cookies, these are nothing short of amazing. Crisp, spicy and sweet! C.U.T.E. too!
A few days ago, the husband said he was headed to a home for homeless girls as part of his company’s CSR, and asked if I could bake something. Yes! I instantly knew it was going to be these. He also asked me to try to make some goodie bags for the girls!
I haven’t had SO MUCH FUN in ages. Actually ever since the kids grew up and kissed birthday parties and return gifts goodbye. This was even more fun than those days. Also very interesting to see the level of interest it drew out of the daughter.
She began making the goodie bags in the car while I was driving her back from art class. She didn’t lose interest. For once. She continued to giggle stupidly, sing crazily, talk non stop to Coco while making the bags.
They are slightly tedious to make as compared to normal cut out cookies. The stamping out of the hearts, the adding little heart sprinkles, and then the smile of course are a little involved! There was a time I used to make the little smileys in a flash. Now with more years under my belt, the eyes aren’t as sharp. So the smileys take a little longer, the little dragees rolling all over the place. Some have a mind of their own!
Well, in the end, it was all very worth it. Just stamping out gingerbread men makes me happy. They promise to spread holiday cheer, sharing happiness with the nibblers! The kids got one each much to their delight since I was guarding the men with my life!
I made a few extra for another special cookie occasion too. More on that very soon! So are you into cookie mode too? I certainly am. What are your cookie monsters munching? My cookies are pretty much whole grain now. I look back in guilt at the many years of plain flour that I baked with.
The internet is a wonderful place, and food blogs are the best! So much inspiration, food for thought and so much creativity you can build upon. These days there’s plenty of oats, barley, whole wheat and amaranth in my baking.
You can find more festive food here
Christmas Mince Fruit Pies
Pistachio & Craisin Cookies
Garam Masala Christmas Fruit Cake
Christmas Stollen {Dresden Stollen}
Strawberry & Vanilla Macaron Trifle
Pannetone
Vanilla Bean Chocolate Chip Wookies {Waffles + Cookies}
Apple Cranberry Almond Olive Oil Popovers
Christmas Stollen Pudding
Toasted Walnut Lindzer Cookies
Gingerbread House
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Recipe: Whole Wheat Gingerbread Men
Summary:These 100% Whole Wheat Gingerbread Men bring cheer to the cookie platter and make for great gifts. They are crisp, sweet, spicy and keep well in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks in a cool place. Makes approx 3 dozen 3″ gingerbread men cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 280g whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- 10g ginger powder
- 10g cinnamon powder
- 100g unsalted butter, cubed
- 150g brown sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 15-25 ml milk, as required
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Line 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Sift the whole wheat flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder and salt.
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour mix to the cold butter, & pulse briefly to make a breadcrumb like mix.
- Tip in the sugar, pulse. Then add the beaten egg, and pulse briefly to mix.
- Now add enough milk to make a firm yet pliable dough.
- Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness & cut with desired cookie cutters.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes till they smell done and the edges start turning golden-brown.
- Cool on cookie racks.
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15 Comments
ERIKA
Love the cute gingerbread men. Of course Coco is so adorable and did your daughter make that doodle art piece up top on your blog? wow really cool. 🙂
Sharmila Ribeiro
Hi, these look fantastic, as all your food does, is there a recipe attached to this post for whole wheat gingerbread cookies?
Deeba @ PAB
Sorry Sharmila. I think the recipe disappeared for some silly reason. It’s on now. Thank you for letting me know!
Suby
nicely done Ginger Man ……….
Coco in the Kitchen
You won’t believe it – I woke up early this morning to make the dough for gingerbread cookies for the first time!
Never made them before – not sure why they intimidate me.
We’ll see how they turn out.
But, yours are just so unusual and cute. Love the recipe, too. So simple.
Love it, Deeba! xoxo
Rosa
Cute gingerbread men! A great take on the original recipe.
Cheers,
Rosa
sangeeta khanna
These GB men with a heart are so cute. The one I got is still intact, smiling lovingly at me 🙂
I can imagine how much fun you had, really !!!
Grace
Hi Deeba!
Love it! Do we add the smile prior to baking or later?
Deeba @ PAB
Hi. Thank you! All the smileys, sprinkles etc are to be added prior to baking!
Judy
Hi,
Looks an exciting recipe. Just wanted your help as to where can I find reasonable priced Christmas cookie cutters & good bakery stuff in Delhi/Gurgaon?
Thanks!
Deeba @ PAB
Hi Judy, You might find some at Modern Bazaar. I did see a few at the little store in Old Delhi. Heres a link to the page –
An online search of ecommerce stores could help too!
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Monique
Terribly sweet:) So cute!
Maria
Can these be made without a food processor? And if so how would you go about doing it/what would you be looking out for at each stage? Thanks 🙂
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