Holiday food is The Best. No holiday is complete without the taste of gingerbread and what better way to do it than a little gingerbread man. I don't go too crazy with decorating the guy, mostly because I'm not a big icing/frosting kinda gal, but feel free to give him a three-piece suit if you like.
GINGERBREAD COOKIES
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg, room temperature
3/4 cup molasses
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
In a different bowl, cream butter and sugar until it's all mixed and fluffy. Add the egg and molasses and mix.
Add dry ingredients into the wet in 3 batches. Don't overmix!
Divide the dough in half and shape them into flat round discs and cover with cling film.
Chill for two hours (at least).
Preheat the oven to 350˚.
Flour your surface and roll to desired thickness, about 1/4 inch. Put the dough on a cookie sheet and chill for 10 minutes.
Cut shapes out, place on cookie sheet lined with parchment and bake for 7-9 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack.
Eat!
Tammy's notes: The decorating icing is pretty easy. Just dump a bunch of powdered sugar into a bowl and add a drop of milk at a time. You really don't need a lot of liquid to make an icing with the right consistency. Put the icing into a ziplock bag and snip off a little piece in the corner to make a DIY piping bag. You could do a proper royal icing by adding meringue powder, but that's too much fuss for such little decor.
Also, my gingerbread cookies have a little white, floury dusting to them when their finished. That can be avoided by dusting off some of the flour before you put the into the oven. I don't mind it, but some people do.
