Gingerbread Men

 Gingerbread Men

Since December started, actually...it may have been back in November - my husband has been asking me to make gingerbread. This weekend I rolled up my sleeves and delivered the cutest little gingerbread men! I am so excited to share the recipe with you. It is a very easy recipe that really packs a punch of spice and ginger. Our home smelled of ginger all day - it was amazing. The dough itself is very quick to whip up, but since these cookies are being rolled out, you will need to allow for some chilling time before you cut out your gingerbread people. 

Gingerbread Men

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
• 1/2 cup tightly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbs ground ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves together in a bowl and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter until pale and fluffy. Add white and brown sugar and combine well. Gradually add the molasses. Add the egg and mix until all combined. 

3. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix well until everything is evenly distributed and combined. 

4. Wrap dough in cling film and place in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours. 

5. After 2 hours has passed, preheat the oven to 400F, remove the dough and roll out between two pieces of parchment paper. Using your chosen cookie cuter, create cookies and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 

6. Bake cookies for 6 minutes. Remove pan and set onto a wire rack. Let cookies completely cool before removing from the pan and placing onto the baking sheet.

7. Decorate your cookies with your favorite icing. I will be adding my go-to royal icing recipe to the blog this week! 

Every year my husband and I go to decorate cookies with our nephews and niece. I brought along a few of these gingerbread men and let the kids decorate them. Here are their versions:

Enjoy!!