Holiday season special - Gingerbread Men cookies

An army of gingerbread men were baked in my oven, the other day. They smelled so good, with all the spices that goes into it, and left an aroma in the whole house, that it turned out to be difficult for me to keep it a secret from my husband.



These cookies are liked by children a lot, may be because of its shape. For us too, it was not less exciting to have these - look at them and give a smile in return and then the hands were gone, then the legs and then the head. I sound like a killer :P. Well, the most interesting part is that these cookies are spicy 'n' sweet and the blend really goes well in this cold month of december.

With the onset of holiday season, while friends and family visit you, its a cookie that you could easily make and store. Making it is fun, as you can revisit your childhood memories of drawing classes, while you do the icing. Frankly, this was my first time, trying out the icing as well as making the gingerbread man and hence the imperfection. But I am sure, this is not my last time making them, cause we loved it and its gonna be made quite often.

Ingredients

For the Gingerbread Man

1. 3 cups of all purpose flour/maida
2. 1 tsp of baking powder
3. 1 tsp of baking soda
4. 1 tsp of ground ginger/ginger powder
5. 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
6. 1/4 tsp of nutmeg 
7. 1/2 tsp of black pepper powder
8. 113 gm/ 1 stick of butter @ room temperature
9. 1 large egg
10. 1/2 cup of loosely packed brown sugar
11. 1/2 cup of molasses / honey

For the frosting

1. 75 gms of butter
2. 1 1/2 cup of icing sugar/ finely powdered sugar
3. 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
4. 1 tbsp of milk

Method

• In a bowl mix the dry ingredients from 1 to 7.
• In another bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, beaten egg and molasses and let the sugar dissolve completely. 
• Add in the dry ingredients and mix it well till all the ingredients gets incorporated well.
• Knead it well and divide it into 2 parts and slightly flatten it. Cover it with a plastic wrap and refrigerate it for about 1-2 hours.
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Using a gingerbread man cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and place them on a greased baking sheet.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F/ 180 C. Bake the cookies for about 8-10 mins or untill the cookies are firm and the sides of the cookies start turning brown.
• Let the cookies cool down before you start off decorating them.
• For the frosting, mix the butter, icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract. Beat it well to make it fluffy. Bring it to a desired consistency by either adding more milk or sugar.
• Place the frosting in a pastry bag with the decorating tip to decorate the cookies as you wish.
• Yields around 40-45 cookies.

Tips

1. You could add or reduce the amount of spices that goes into the cookies as you wish.
2. If you do not happen to have a cookie cutter, cut out the desired shapes on a butter paper. Place them on top of the rolled out dough and using a sharp knife cut out the cookies. If you are so determined to make them, not having a cookie cutter can't stop you from it :).
3. If you do not happen to have a pastry bag or a decorating tip, use a ziploc bag instead.

Hope you all have a great holiday season!!!

Recipe Courtesy : Adapted from Joy of Baking and Ria's collection.