Make the seasonal favorite Mickey gingerbread man cookies from Disneyland in your own home with this copycat recipe.
Prep Time4 hourshrs30 minutesmins
Course: Dessert
Keyword: Cookie Recipe, Copycat Disney Recipe, Disney Recipe, Disney Treats, Disneyland Recipe, Gingerbread Cookies, Gingerbread Men, Jolly Holiday, Jolly Holiday Recipes, Mickey Gingerbread Men
Servings: 24cookies
Author: Jess
Equipment
Cookie cutter
Rolling Pin
Piping bags or ziploc bags
Ingredients
1 1/2sticks (3/4 cup)unsalted butter, brownedcooled until solidified
3/4cupdark brown sugar
3/4cupmolasses,not blackstrap
1tbspvegetable oil
1tbspapple cider vinegar
1 egg
2 tspvanilla
4 - 4 1/2cupsflour,start with 4 cups- add remaining 1/2 cup if dough is too wet
1tbspground cinnamon
1 tbspground ginger
2tspground cloves
1tspground nutmeg
1/2 tspsalt
1/2tspbaking soda
To make the royal icing:
2cupspowdered sugar
2tbspmeringue powder
1/4cupwater
2-3 dropsclear vanilla
Food coloringgreen, red, and black
Instructions
In a pan, brown butter over medium heat and allow to cool until mostly solidified.
In a stand mixer using the whisk attachment, add the butter and sugar and beat together until well combined and fluffy.
Add the molasses, oil, vinegar, egg, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until completely combined.
In another bowl, combine 4 cups of flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda. Using a dough hook on a low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients until everything is well combined. Use a spatula to scrape the sides if needed. If the dough feels too wet once it’s completely combined, add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour and mix until fully incorporated. The dough should be soft but not sticky.
Roll the dough out on parchment paper to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out your cookies. NOTE: Do not flour the counter, rolling pin, or cookie cutter, the dough will not be sticky and doesn't need the extra flour. Remove excess dough and place parchment paper with the cookies onto a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 7 minutes.
Remove cookies from the freezer and place in 350° preheated oven and bake the cookies for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and allow cookies to sit on the cookie sheet for 1 minute before carefully moving them to a cooling rack. Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.
To make the royal icing:
In a bowl, combined powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water and mix until smooth. Add 2-3 drops of clear vanilla flavoring and mix until incorporated. Separate frosting into 5 bowls, leaving the largest one white, and making the others light pink, green, red, and black.
To decorate the cookies:
Outline the cookie with white frosting and add details to the arms, legs, and ears. Using the black food coloring, pipe on the eyes, nose, and smile. Add the pink frosting for the cheeks, the red frosting for the bow tie, and the green frosting for the buttons. NOTE: Allow each color of food coloring to harden before adding the next color to avoid smearing. Enjoy!
Notes
• For the cookies to turn out like Jolly Holiday’s, roll them 1/2” thick, bake for 7 minutes, and leave them on the cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes before transferring to the cooling rack.• If you don’t have black food coloring, you could buy a tube of black icing gel.• If you don’t want to make frosting, you could melt down milk chocolate and white chocolate to pipe your designs.