Gingerbread Men

From the Sara Perry collection

Introduction

Decorate these cookies with raisins or non-melting candies before baking. Or bake undecorated cookies and let cool before frosting with Mrs. Neuman’s Icing.

Ingredients

Steps

1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves until well blended; set aside. In a stand mixer, beat butter on medium speed until creamy, about 30 seconds. Beat in brown sugar until light and lump-free. Beat in molasses until blended, then the egg, scraping down sides and bottom of bowl as necessary. Turn off mixer, add one third of flour mixture, and beat on low speed until blended. Repeat with remaining flour and beat until blended.
2. Using lightly floured hands, gather soft dough into ball. Divide into quarters and flatten into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic and chill for 2 hours or until firm. (The dough can be prepared two days ahead and kept refrigerated.)
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove 1 dough disk from refrigerator and, if needed for easier handling, soften slightly for 2 minutes. Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper or heavy-duty plastic wrap, set it on a lightly floured board, and roll it out until it is ¼ to ⅛ inch thick.
4. Firmly press a 3-inch gingerbread man- or woman-shaped cookie cutter straight down into dough. Repeat, cutting cookies close together to avoid rerolling. Carefully transfer cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or an ungreased nonstick baking sheet. Bake until cookies are firm to touch, about 10 minutes depending on thickness. Let cookies stand on sheet for 1 minute. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. Repeat rolling, cutting, and baking with remaining dough disks, being sure to cool cookie sheet before each batch. Store in an airtight container at room temperature until ready to eat or decorate.

Notes

To make this cookie recipe your own, adjust the spiciness by changing the amount of ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. The choice of light or dark molasses and brown sugar will also be a matter of your individual taste.

This recipe comes from Sara Perry’s article on holiday desserts.

This content is from the Sara Perry collection.