Gingerbread Men

We've never done Gingerbread cookies in our house before, but we tried it this year, and it was a lot of fun! I turned into a whole unit for homeschool. The cookies topped it all off. Here's a good recipe that turned out great!

Gingerbread Cookies

3 c. flour

1/4 t. salt

3/4 t. baking soda

2 t. ground ginger

2 t. ground cinnaomn

1/4 t. ground nutmeg

1/4 t. allspice

1/2 c. butter, room temperature

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/3 c.maple syrup

1/3 c. honey (if you don't have syrup, just use all honey)

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, syrup and honey and beat until well combined. Gradually add the flour mixture beating until incorporated.

Divide the dough in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 177C and place rack in center of oven. Line 2 baking sheets with butter paper and set aside while you roll out the dough.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Use a gingerbread cutter to cut out the cookies. With an offset spatula lift the cut out cookies onto the baking sheet, placing the cookies about 1 inch apart. You can make ornaments or gifts by making a hole at the top of the cookie and baking longer till hard and brown.

Bake for about 8 - 12 minutes depending on the size of the cookies. Small ones will take about 8 minutes, larger cookies will take about 12 minutes. They are done when they are firm and the edges are just beginning to brown.

Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for about 1 minutes. When they are firm enough to move, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For frosting:

2 c. icing sugar, sifted

1/2 c. butter at room temperature

1 t. vanilla

1 1/2 T. milk

In an electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beater. Add the milk and beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). Add a little more milk if too dry. Place in a decorating bag to dress up your gingerbread men. If you don't have a decorating bag with tips, you can place it in a ziploc and cut just a tiny bit of one corner off.

This is adapted from The Joy of Baking website.

Merry Christmas!