Grandmother’s Gingerbread Boys

Time-honored traditions are one of the best aspects of the holidays. For my family, that list is long, including a Christmas Eve beef tenderloin dinner while donning our Sunday best, “fishing” for toys at the kitchen table, and having crispy orange juice biscuits on Christmas morning.

One of the sweetest (in every way) traditions takes place annually at my Grandmother’s house — a day spent baking and decorating gingerbread boys. Whichever cousins are in town and available divide and conquer the tasks associated. One mixes the dough, One rolls it out (“as thick as an Oreo cookie”), one cuts the shapes, and one takes on the most important job of all: oven watcher. 

We make enough cookies to feed a small army (which, for my big Catholic family, is necessary), covering her dining room table completely with cooling cookies. My Grandmother uses her expert hand to whip up her citrusy icing, then we take turns piping faces, bows, buttons, and shoes in alternating red and green until they’re all dressed and ready to share. We each pack up plenty to gift and a personal stash to munch on all season long. 

It wouldn’t be Christmas without these perfectly spiced, pillowy soft, and delightfully sweet cookies, and she’s sharing her coveted recipe (icing and all) with you in celebration of Modern South Magazine’s launch.

Now, you’ll need to consult our guide to the Southern kitchen to best understand these instructions, but the bottom line is that practice makes perfect and your gut is your best kitchen tool. While these exact instructions will get you delicious cookies, Grandmother has a few tricks to take them to the next level: she always adds a little more spice than it calls for (“add until it smells like gingerbread”), she can never exactly remember what temperature we cook them on (and still, we never write it down), and there’s no set baking time (hence, the “oven watcher”). The boys should bake until they puff up, then should be taken out as soon as they begin to fall. 

With practice, patience, and plenty of spirit, you’ll get the hang of it in no time. And if you make them, she’d be delighted to see. Tag us on Instagram!