These Halloween Gingerbread Men Skeletons are the spookiest twist on a classic holiday cookie! Rich, chocolatey gingerbread men made with black cocoa powder, decorated with bone-white royal icing to create the cutest little skeletons. They look impressive, but the piping is much easier than it looks!
If you love Easy Halloween Baking Recipes, don't miss these Ghost Meringues or these Black Velvet Halloween Cupcakes.
Why This Halloween Gingerbread Men Skeletons Recipe Works
- Recipe name: Halloween Gingerbread Men Skeletons
- Ready in: 1hr 30 minutes (plus overnight chilling)
- Serves: 15 gingerbread men
- Main ingredients: Cake flour, black cocoa powder, butter, muscovado sugar, molasses, egg, warm spices, egg white, and icing sugar.
- Perfect for: Halloween parties, spooky dessert tables, school treat boxes, or a fun cookie decorating afternoon with the kids. They are perfect for dunking into hot chocolate!
- Why I love it: The black cocoa dough makes the white icing pop, so the skeleton design looks dramatic even if you're new to piping. The dough also chills overnight, so you can get ahead on your Halloween baking.
- Calories: 222kcal
SUMMARIZE & SAVE THIS CONTENT ON
If you're baking for Halloween, I think one scary cookie is never enough! If you agree, see my round-up on Easy Halloween Cookie Recipes and don't miss these Halloween Monster Cookie Sandwiches or these No-Bake Halloween Chocolate Truffles.
Jump to:
Key Ingredients
- Black cocoa powder - This is what gives the gingerbread its deep, almost-black color, which makes the white icing stand out. If you'd like to try another recipe with this ingredient, see these Black Velvet Halloween Cupcakes.
- Muscovado sugar - Muscovado is a dark, moist sugar with a rich molasses flavor that suits gingerbread perfectly. If you can't find it, use dark brown sugar instead.
- Molasses - Molasses gives gingerbread its classic deep, slightly bittersweet flavor and soft texture. Use regular (dark) molasses rather than blackstrap, which can taste too bitter. Treacle will also work in this recipe.
- Cake flour - Cake flour keeps these cookies tender. If you can't find it, all-purpose flour will also work.
- Egg white and lemon juice - These make the royal icing. Use a room-temperature egg white for the best volume, and make sure your bowl is completely clean and grease-free. For more tips on working with egg whites, see these Perfect Mini Meringues.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
You can use any Halloween-shaped cookie cutter with this dough, such as ghosts, bats, cats, or pumpkins, and pipe a different design on each one. If you'd like a plain cut-out cookie without the spices, try these Heart Shaped Sugar Biscuits and decorate them with the same royal icing.
For a fun twist, turn these chocolate gingerbread skeletons into sandwich cookies by spreading the underside of a plain cookie with this Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and topping it with a decorated skeleton cookie.
How to Make Halloween Gingerbread Men Skeletons
Instructions for Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
- Step 1: Sift together the flour, black cocoa powder, baking soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a medium bowl.
- Step 2: Add the butter and muscovado sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream at medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Step 3: Add the molasses and egg to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat again.
- Step 4: With the mixer running at slow speed, add the flour mixture one spoon at a time. Once it has all been added, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.
- Step 5: Wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Step 6: Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F). Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of ½ cm (¼ inch) using a rolling pin.
- Step 7: Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut out about 15 gingerbread men. Place them onto an oven tray lined with parchment paper, spacing them adequately.
- Step 8: Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Once baked, leave the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
Instructions for Royal Icing and Skeleton Decorations
- Step 1: Add the egg white and lemon juice to the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat until combined.
- Step 2: Slowly add the icing sugar with the mixer running at medium speed. Once it has all been added, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again until stiff peaks form. Add the icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round decorating nozzle.
- Step 3: Pipe a skeleton design onto the cooled cookies.
- Step 4: Once all the cookies have been decorated, place them back onto an oven tray and bake in a preheated oven set at 100°C (210°F) for 10 minutes to set the royal icing. Cool on a wire rack, serve, and enjoy!
Storage
Store the decorated chocolate gingerbread men in a single layer in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, out of direct sunlight. Stacking them can chip the royal icing, so place parchment paper between layers if you need to stack.
Raw cookie dough or undecorated baked cookies can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Thaw them at room temperature before baking or decorating.
Expert Tips
- Halloween tip! Chill the gingerbread skeleton cookie dough overnight. Cold dough is much easier to roll out and helps the gingerbread men keep their shape in the oven.
- Roll the dough to an even thickness of ½ cm (¼ inch) so that all the cookies bake at the same rate.
- Check the true temperature of your oven with an oven thermometer before baking.
- Make sure the cookies are completely cool before piping; otherwise, the royal icing will melt and lose its shape.
- Keep any unused royal icing covered with a damp cloth or plastic wrap, as it forms a crust very quickly when exposed to air.
- Practice your skeleton design on a sheet of parchment paper first. A simple design with a line down the torso, curved ribs, long bones on the arms and legs, and small dots for joints works well.
Halloween Gingerbread Men Skeletons FAQs
Yes. This dough needs to chill overnight anyway, and it will keep well wrapped in the fridge for up to 2 days before rolling and cutting. You can also freeze the wrapped dough for up to 2 months and thaw it in the fridge overnight before using.
If you can't find black cocoa powder, use regular cocoa powder instead. The gingerbread men will be a rich dark brown rather than almost black, so the white skeleton design won't stand out quite as dramatically, but they will still taste delicious.
Baking the royal icing for a short time at a very low temperature helps it set firmly so that the skeleton design doesn't smudge. If you'd rather not use the oven, you can let the decorated cookies air dry at room temperature for several hours, until the icing is completely hard.
Yes. If you'd rather not use raw egg white, use pasteurized egg white from a carton or meringue powder mixed with water, following the directions on the packaging, to make the royal icing.
The royal icing only uses an egg white, so you will have one egg yolk left over. Custard-based recipes are ideal for using it up. Try this Vanilla Bean Custard or this White Chocolate Crème Brûlée.
These are firm, sturdy cookies, which makes them perfect for dunking in hot chocolate. Because the dough is rolled thin, at ½ cm, baking time controls the texture. Bake for about 10 minutes for a slightly softer, chewier cookie, or closer to 15 minutes for a crisper one.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a small round nozzle with stiff royal icing, then hold the bag at about a 45-degree angle just above the cookie and squeeze with steady pressure. This royal icing recipe is thick; it's easier to pipe these cookies with just one consistency of frosting. Start with an oval shape for the head. Draw two circles that touch; there will be a small triangle for the nose. You have now created the skull with the eye and nose sockets. Pipe a line down the middle for the spine, add curved lines for the ribs, then pipe long straight bones along the arms and legs, with small dots at the joints.
More Easy Halloween and Fall Baking Recipes
If you're after more cozy, spiced baking, try this Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting or this Pumpkin Carrot Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting. And for an easy no-bake treat on your Halloween table, don't skip these No-Bake Condensed Milk Chocolate Truffles.
Happy Baking, With Love, Kitty
Please leave a star rating and comment below if you tried this recipe! If you're wondering what to try next, check out these Monster Halloween Cookies!
📖 Recipe
Halloween Gingerbread Men Skeletons
Equipment
- 2x cookie trays
- 1x disposable piping bag
- 1x decorating nozzle
Ingredients
Chocolate Gingerbread Men
- 225 g cake flour
- 75 g black cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 90 g unsalted butter
- 70 g muscovado sugar
- 1 egg extra large
- 60 g molasses
Royal Icing
- 1 egg white
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- 300 g icing sugar
Instructions
Chocolate Gingerbread Men
- Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a medium bowl.
- Add the butter and muscovado to a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream at medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add the molasses and the egg to the butter and sugar mixture. Beat to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and beat again.
- With the mixer running at a slow speed, add the flour mixture one spoonful at a time. Once added, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.
- Wrap the cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F), then roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of ½ cm ( ¼ inch) using a rolling pin. Use gingerbread-shaped cookie cutters to cut out the dough into about 15 gingerbread men. Place them onto an oven tray, spacing them adequately.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 10 - 15 minutes. Once baked, leave them to cool on a wire rack before decorating.
Royal Icing Decoration
- Add the egg white and lemon juice to a bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat until combined.
- Slowly add the icing sugar to the mixture while the mixer is running at medium speed. Once it has all been added, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again until stiff peaks form. Add the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a small round decorating nozzle.
- Pipe a skeleton design onto the cooled cookies.
- Once all the cookies are decorated, place them back onto an oven tray and place the tray into a preheated oven set at 100°C (210°F) for 10 minutes to bake and set the royal icing. Cool on a wire rack, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
- Baking the cookies again after decorating is optional; it not only cooks the egg whites if you are worried about using raw eggs, but also hardens the royal icing faster.
Leave a Reply