Gingerbread Man Cookies
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No cookie says Christmas more than a gingerbread man cookie. It's been thirty years since I last made gingerbread men, and it took all weekend to get this recipe right. After starting with a truly terrible recipe from a 1974 edition of the Joy of Cooking (1/4 cup of butter for 3 1/2 cups of flour? - had to throw the whole batch out), I settled on this recipe, which makes some rather tasty cookies.
After running around to several stores looking for the perfect gingerbread man cookie cutter, and getting nowhere, I created my own stencils (see links below). To use them, print them out and fold them in half lengthwise to make it easy to cut along the lines (don't worry if the lines don't perfectly match up, I drew them freehand.) Place the stencil over the rolled-out dough and use a small sharp knife to cut along the inside of the stencil.
Gingerbread Man Cookies Recipe
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Ingredients
Cookies
- 3 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter (room temperature, softened)
- 1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
- 1 Tbsp ground ginger
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
- Optional raisins, chocolate chips, candy pieces, frosting
Royal Icing
- 1 egg white
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
Method
1 In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.
2 In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Mix in eggs and molasses. Gradually add the flour mixture; combine on low speed. (You may need to work it with your hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.) Divide dough in thirds; wrap each third in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight. Before rolling out, let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. If after refrigerating the dough feels too soft to roll-out, work in a little more flour.
3 Heat oven to 350°. Place a dough third on a large piece of lightly floured parchment paper or wax paper. Using a rolling pin, roll dough 1/8 inch thick. Refrigerate again for 5-10 minutes to make it easier to cut out the cookies. Use either a cookie cutter or place a stencil over the dough and use a knife to cut into desired shapes. Press raisins, chocolate chips, or candy pieces in the center of each cookie if desired for "buttons".
4 Transfer to ungreased baking sheets. Bake until crisp but not darkened, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Let sit a few minutes and then use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.
Makes 16 5-inch long cookies.
Royal Icing
The traditional way to make Royal Icing is to beat egg whites and lemon juice together, adding the powdered sugar until the mixture holds stiff peaks. With modern concerns about salmonella from raw eggs, you can either use powdered egg whites or heat the egg whites first to kill any bacteria. With the heating method, mix the egg white and lemon juice with a third of the sugar, heat in a microwave until the mixture's temperature is 160°F. Then remove from microwave, and beat in the remaining sugar until stiff peaks form. Using the powdered egg whites method, combine 1 Tbsp egg white powder with 2 Tbsp water. Proceed as you would otherwise. (Raw egg white alternatives from the 2006 Joy of Cooking)
If the icing is too runny, add more powdered sugar until you get the desired consistency. Fill a piping bag with the icing to pipe out into different shapes. (Or use a plastic sandwich bag, with the tip of one corner of the bag cut off.) Keep the icing covered while you work with it or it will dry out.
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I'm from Finland, and we use the following kind of icing for decorating gingerbread cookies:
(it's metric, sorry...)
4 dl / 225 g powder sugar
1 egg white
1 tbsp water or lemon juice
Mix the ingredients to a smooth paste, the water or juice may not be needed, if the mixture feels pipe-able enough without it.
You can dye the icing with food coloring, if you fancy different colors than pure white.