Make Gingerbread Men Cookies

One of the all-time favorite treats for the holidays are gingerbread men. Their chewy, spicy goodness warms the mouth and warms the tummy, and are favored by everybody from little elves to Santa himself. (It's rumored that eating gingerbread is what keeps Rudolph's nose glowing when needed!) We'll show you how to make them, and add a rosy glow to your cheeks, too! Read on.

  • Makes: About 10 large cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups (310 grams) all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ cup (110 grams) softened butter
  • ½ cup (100 grams) sugar
  • ½ cup (125 milliliters) molasses or syrup
  • ¼ cup (60 grams) water
  • 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Decorative toppings (Icing, frosting, sprinkles, small candies, etc.)

Steps

  1. Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium sized bowl, mix the salt, baking soda, flour, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon together.
  2. Mix the wet ingredients. Get a large bowl and mix the butter, sugar, water, molasses, and vanilla together. You can use an electric whisk or mixer in case the butter is not be soft enough to mix by hand.
  3. Mix the dry with the wet. Add small amounts of the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix slowly with a wooden spoon until the whole mixture becomes a soft dough. Be careful using electric equipment for this may splatter flour out of the bowl while mixing.
  4. Prepare the dough. Divide the dough in half and use plastic wrap to cover each half. Place both pieces in the refrigerator for two hours or until it gets firm and hard.
  5. Preheat the oven. Set to 375° F (190° C), or on the gas mark 5.
  6. Create the men. Lightly flour your surface, either a counter top or a cutting board. Use a floured rolling pin to roll out the dough to either 1/8- or 1/4-inch thick. Use your cookie cutters on the dough, cut out the men shapes, and place them on your baking sheet. Recycle the dough by rolling the leftovers and cutting out more men.
  7. Bake your cookies for 9 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned. Remove them from the oven and leave them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. If you remove them from the sheet immediately, some body parts may fall off in the process. If they do, eat them.
  8. Decorate. This is always the fun part of making cookies (besides eating them, of course!) Use different colors of icing, frosting, and sprinkles to create facial and other features. You can also "glue" other candies such as gumdrops with a dab of frosting on the bottom.

Tips

  • Have kids decorate their own gingerbread men along with their own house.
  • You could also put fondant on it.
  • Use M&Ms for the eyes and sour worms for the streams along the arms and legs.

Warnings

  • Take caution not to burn yourself while baking. Always wear oven mitts and be wary of hot pans.

Things You'll Need

  • Mixing bowl
  • Mixer or whisk (hand or electric)
  • Parchment paper
  • Cookie sheet
  • Plastic wrap
  • Cookie cutters

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