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Recipe

Gingerbread men filled with chocolate hazelnut spread or jam

Prep time: 
360
Cook time: 
20
Skill level: 
Medium
Serves: 
7 large biscuits
Six filled gingerbread people decorated with eyeball sprinkles and simple white icing. A fun take on Christmas baking.

Filled gingerbread men are a delicious take on a festive Christmas baking. (ABC News: Ella Rossanis)

Ella Rossanis is a Sydney-based home baker and 2022 winner of The Great Australian Bake Off. Her fun and playful bakes are inspired by her three young children. She's on Instagram as @EllasPlayBakes

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While gingerbread men, with their slight crispiness and chewy centre, are great, this recipe takes them to a new level.

These gingerbread men take inspiration from Pop Tarts, which feature a sweet filling, encased between two layers of pastry.

This recipes takes the comforting holiday flavours you know and love and includes your favourite spreads like jam, chocolate hazelnut spread and more.

A hand pipes chocolate hazelnut spread into a gingerbread cookie using a piping bag made from a zip lock bag.

Pipe your favourite filling into the biscuits, such as choc hazelnut spread or jam. (ABC News: Ella Rossanis)

Tips: 

  • You can use a food processor to make the dough but take care not to overwork it to preserve its flakiness.
  • If using jam as a filling, there may be some leakage. If that happens, cover it with your icing and no-one will ever know.
  • You don't need to own a piping bag for this recipe as it's easy to make one out of a small zip-lock bag. 
  • Have fun with your decorating!
A hand punches out buttons on gingerbread men using a straw to allow steam to escape when it's baked with filling.

Use a straw to cut buttons into the gingerbread men. This allows steam to escape when the filled biscuits are baked. (ABC News: Ella Rossanis)

Gingerbread men filled with chocolate hazelnut spread or jam

Prep time: 
360
Cook time: 
20
Skill level: 
Medium
Serves: 
7 large biscuits

Ingredients

For the simple icing:

Method

  1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until combined. Add the grated cold unsalted butter and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add cold water and continue to rub until a ball of dough forms. Turn the dough out onto your bench and shape it into a smooth ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap, flatten it into a disk, and refrigerate for at least an hour.
  2. Take the chilled dough out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper to about 3mm thick. Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut out as many gingerbread men as you can.
  3. Place half the gingerbread men on a tray lined with baking paper. For the remaining half, use a straw to create two holes where the buttons would traditionally be – see image above. This allows steam to escape during baking.
  4. Cut a small hole in one corner of the disposable plastic bags containing your filling and pipe it evenly over the gingerbread men on the baking tray, leaving a 3mm border around the edge. See image above. Top each one with a gingerbread man that has holes cut out, then press the edges together firmly with your fingertips to seal them well on all sides.
  5. Refrigerate the gingerbread men again for minimum one hour.
  6. Preheat oven to 180°C. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until they're golden brown. Allow them to cool completely before decorating.
  7. Make the icing: Mix the icing sugar and water together in a small bowl until smooth and no lumps remain. Spoon into a piping bag or disposable plastic bag and pipe decorations on your gingerbread men. Allow to set completely before serving.
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