Every Christmas the kids and I make gingerbread men, and the fun starts long before the oven goes on. Everyone designs their perfect gingerbread man on paper first, then tries to copy it onto a cookie with icing. Paper is a lot more forgiving than icing. A fair number of undecorated masterpieces get eaten during the design process, which I think is just part of the tradition now.
Design Your Own Gingerbread People
These blank outlines are made for cookie planning. Draw on a face, buttons, a scarf or a fancy dress, then see if you can pipe the same thing onto a real cookie. Getting icing to behave is a whole different skill, so don't worry if the cookie turns out a little wobblier than the drawing.
People have been baking gingerbread for hundreds of years, but shaping it into little people is usually credited to Queen Elizabeth I of England, who is said to have had gingerbread figures made to look like the guests at her parties. Imagine being handed a cookie version of yourself! These days the most famous gingerbread man is the one from the old folk tale, who hops off the baking tray and runs away, sure that nobody can catch him.
Gingerbread houses became popular in Germany in the 1800s, around the time the Brothers Grimm wrote down the story of Hansel and Gretel and the witch's house made of bread and cake. And if the Gingerbread Man ever stopped running, he might settle down in a bakery like the one below, with cupcakes on every shelf.
