Gingerbread Coloring Pages
Welcome to my Gingerbread coloring pages section.
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.
Jump to: Design Your Own | Gingerbread Man Story | Gingerbread Men | Gingerbread Girls | Baking Gingerbread | Gingerbread Houses | Cinnamon
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.
Run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!
Grandma opens the oven to check on her cookies, and out jumps the Gingerbread Man, who bolts through the door shouting his famous rhyme. By the time he reaches the river, half the farm is chasing him and a sly fox is waiting on the bank...
Gingerbread Man story coloring pages
Gingerbread Men
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 Girls
A gingerbread girl cookie cutter has a skirt that flares out at the bottom, which leaves plenty of room for icing ruffles. A bow on top and she's ready for the cookie tin.
Baking Gingerbread
Molasses is what turns gingerbread dough that deep brown. The dough is stiff enough to hold its shape in the oven, so the arms and legs stay right where the cutter put them.
Gingerbread Houses and Bakeries
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.
Cinnamon
Gingerbread gets its warm smell from a mix of spices and cinnamon is one of them. It comes from tree bark that curls into a scroll as it dries. Bakers also use it in cinnamon buns and Mexican hot chocolate.