So recently I shared on Instagram that my theme for Christmas recipes this years is: naughty AND nice! Recipes which are still deliciously festive and indulgent, but with some simple swaps where possible to make them slightly better for you too!

Next up are these protein packed gingerbread men!

Gingerbread men are something I often bake every year as they’re so easy to make, fun to decorate and they make the house smell amazing while you’re baking them! I’ve alternated between making protein and traditional versions for the past few years – but these are the perfect balance. This time I used the Protein Bread Co cookie mix as a base, then adjusted slightly to suit this recipe (note you can get $10 off your order too if you use my code “beautifulexistence10”)

Note, these aren’t super sweet, so if that’s what you prefer then great! Otherwise, you may want to add more sweetener OR more chocolate toppings!

Ingredients:

  • 1 full packet of the Protein Bread Co cookie mix
  • 1/2 cup Anna’s Low Carb Icing Mix (also available from the Protein Bread Co), or any sweetener you wish to use
  • 20g ginger
  • 10g mixed spice
  • 160g melted butter
  • 40g molasses
  • 5g vanilla bean paste
  • 4 tbsp almond milk (or milk of your choice)
  • Decorations (I used melted dark chocolate, writing icing and Christmas m&ms).

You’ll also need

  • Baking tray
  • 2 x mixing bowls
  • Gingerbread men cookie cutter(s)
  • Baking tray
  • Rolling pin

Gingerbread men recipe

To make:

  1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C.
  2. Start by combining the dry (cookie mix, spices and sweetner) in one bowl and the wet (butter, molasses, vanilla bean paste and milk) in the other.
  3. Mix together to form a dough, and then roll into a ball, cover with glad wrap and pop in the fridge for at least an hour or so (this makes it easier to handle the dough)
  4. Flatten the dough for cutting using a large rolling pin. To make it easier to flatten I divided the dough and started with a smaller amount, and also rolled the dough on some baking paper with the glad wrap over the top (between the dough and the rolling pin) to prevent sticking.
  5. Then, cut out your gingerbread men shapes and place onto a lined baking tray, and repeat the process until all of the dough is used. I have both super large and tiny gingerbread men cutter shapes, so I did the large ones first and then used the smaller ones for using up the remaining dough.
  6. Bake for about 10 – 15 minutes, until golden brown.
  7. Place onto a baking tray to cool, being careful as this dough is quite fragile (I had a few decapitations and severed limbs…but they were easily fixed with icing!)
  8. Once they are cool, then you can decorate! I used writing icing (including glitter icing too, which I found takes forver to set), melted dark chocolate for the boots and Christmas m&ms.
  9. Enjoy!

Gingerbread men

If you’re also baking these to give as gifts, like I did, then Kmart also has the perfect 20 pack of festive goodie bags for just $1!

Like this recipe and want to save for later?

Protein Gingerbread Men

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Author

Sophie is the owner and creator of The Beautiful Existence. A Melbourne based self proclaimed nerd, gym junkie and lover of all things creative, tasty and well designed!

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