Gingerbread Man Cookies
Or, as my nephews have taken to calling them: Ginger Man Cookies. They like them so much that they were asking for them every couple of weeks. I finally had to limit them to birthdays and Christmas. They even like them the way I like them: with lots of cinnamon, ginger and cloves.
These are one of the recipes that are a little more complicated, but are definitely worth the trouble. I usually use my gingerbread man cookie cutter. But, for Christmas I'll also use the cutters shaped liked Christmas trees and stars.
Ingredients
| 3/4 cup | unsulfered molasses, warmed |
| 3/4 cup | butter |
| 3/4 cup | sugar |
| 1 | egg |
| 3 3/4 cups | flour |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| 1/2 tsp | baking soda |
| 2 tsp | ginger |
| 2 tsp | cinnamon |
| 2 tsp | all-spice |
| 1 tsp | cloves |
Cream butter and mix with sugar.
Add egg.
Warm molasses (I usually just put it in a mug in the microwave for
about 20 seconds.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, ginger
cinnamon and allspice. Alternate mixing dry ingredients with molasses
into butter mixture.
Mix well. (I usually double or even triple these amounts for spices.
2 tsp ground cinnamon It depends on your tastes.)
The dough should be sticky. It will solidify as it cools.
Chill overnight, or at least 2 hours.
Roll out to 1/8 or 1/4 inch thickness on well-floured surface. (If
you like your gingerbread softer, roll them thicker)
Cut with cookie cutter.
Place on parchment covered cookie sheet (I've discovered the beauty of baking with parchment paper. It really does make things much easier. You don't have to grease the cookie sheets and you can re-use the parchment.)
Decorate with raisins or cinnamon candies. Or leave plain to frost later.
Bake at 350 for 10-14 minutes. (depending on thickness and how crunchy you
like your cookies).
You can also freeze the dough for several weeks. Or, I've even frozen
plain cookies right after they cool and then frosted them later.