How to Make Gingerbread Men Cookies

Gingerbread is fun to work with at any time of the year. It is especially popular at holiday times. Gingerbread can be cut into most any shape you can imagine. Some shapes that are commonly used are gingerbread people, Christmas shapes, hearts, and animal shapes. Making gingerbread houses is also a popular use for gingerbread. Shaping and decorating gingerbread is a fun activity to do with kids. It is fun for them to see the forms take shape and they have great imaginations when it comes to decorating. Provided below is information on making gingerbread cookies.

Gingerbread Men Cookies

Gingerbread cookies can be made into many different shapes but one of the most popular are the gingerbread men. The content below contains information on how to make gingerbread men cookies. There are many different recipes for the gingerbread itself, which include ingredients that give them their own varied flavor. Some of the ingredients that are added to these recipes that affect the flavor are ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, brown sugar, molasses, and maple syrup. Some are even flavored with cocoa powder to give them a chocolate flavor. They can be decorated with royal icing, confectioners frosting, or you can use pre-mixed decorating frosting found in a tube. The cookies can be decorated with a piping outline only, frosting all or part of the cookie, or a combination of both. It is really up to your own imagination. The frosting can be tinted to different colors and candies, sprinkles, and colored sugar can be used for additional decorations. For the cookies below we used only confectioners frosting when decorating.

Making the Gingerbread Cookies

Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients:
	4 c. flour 2 tsp. ginger 1 tbsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. ground cloves 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda		1/2 c. light brown sugar 1/2 c. butter, softened 2 eggs 3/4 c. molasses

Combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and baking soda in a bowl. Stir with a wire whisk to mix ingredients. Set aside to use later.
Cream the brown sugar and butter together in a mixing bowl until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then add the molasses. Beat until well incorporated.
Add one third of the dry ingredients and beat into the mixture. Add the remaining ingredients, one third at a time.
If the dough is getting too stiff when you add the last third, you may have to stir it in by hand. Stir only until ingredients are evenly mixed.

		Divide the dough into two halves. Flatten each half into a thick disk.
		Cover each half with plastic and place in the refrigerator to chill the dough for 2 hours.
		After the dough is chilled, remove one disk from the refrigerator and place it on a floured work surface.
		Roll the dough out with a lightly floured rolling pin until the dough is 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
		Cut out the cookies with the cookie cutters, cutting the cookies out as close as possible to each other.
		Use a spatula to lift them off the work surface and place them on a lightly grease cookie sheet or a sheet lined with parchment paper. Space cookies about 1 inch apart to allow for expansion. Gather the scrap pieces and roll them out to cut more cookies. Use as little additional flour as possible.

Place the cookie sheet in an oven preheated to 350°F and bake for 10 minutes or just until the edges start to brown.
Remove them from the oven and allow the cookies to sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before removing. This will allow them to firm up slightly and make it easier to remove them without damaging them.
When ready to remove, use a spatula to lift them off from the cookie sheet and place them on a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before decorating.

Decorating the Gingerbread Cookies

Decorating Icing
Ingredients:
	4 c. powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla		5 tbsp. of half & half

		Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and 2 tbsp. of half & half in a mixing bowl and beat until well blended.
		Add the remaining half & half one tablespoon at a time. Add the half & half until the frosting is smooth and the desired consistency. You may not need the entire amount of half & half to get it to the desired thickness.
If decorating with different colors of icing, divide the icing into smaller batches and add food coloring to achieve desired colors.
		Use a pastry bag to decorate the cookies. If you do not have a pastry bag for decorating, you can use a small bag. Put frosting in one corner and then trim the corner just slightly. Squeeze the frosting through the hole and decorate the cookies. You can also use pre-mixed decorating frosting in a tube with piping tip attached to do the piping on the cookies.
The gingerbread cookies can be decorated in any manner you desire. They can be decorated very simply or they can be decorated elborately with little outfits and unique faces. You can use all white frosting or you can color it with food coloring to add some color to the cookies.
		Add small candies, sprinkles, and colored sugars for additional decorations if desired. See How to Make Christmas Cookies - Decorating for more decorating ideas and tips. Note: For information on how to store cookies, see How to Make Christmas Cookies - Storing Cookies.