Gingerbread Man

Christmas is just around the corner. Despite the fact that I am not a Christian.....like most Malaysians......we still celebrate Christmas in one way or another. The other day, while I was tidying the children's bookshelves, I stumbled upon the book, "The Gingerbread Man". Now, my children have long outgrown the book...but I suddenly have this urge to bake some gingerbread man cookies. After all, it's a must have for Christmas, right?

I have never baked this cookie before. So, I started surfing the Net for help. Found this recipe online and was immediately attracted to it. It looks simple to make. The next day, I got all the required ingredients and was ready to roll out some gingerbread man. Unfortunately, I could not get hold of the gingerbread man cookie cutters as the bakery supply store has ran out of it. So... I drew the gingerbread man on a piece of paper and cut it out as a template. I had to hand cut the gingerbread man with the template using a some plastic knife. It's time-consuming but the end result was pretty satisfactory.

Gingerbread men with a scarf

Dancing Gingerbread man (or are they supposed to be running!)

Gingerbread couple!!!!

They are so cute and taste good too!. My gingerbread men are of a darker shade as I used organic black strap molasses. I do find it a bit too sweet, so the next time I will reduce the amount of sugar.

Gingerbread Man

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp (freshly) ground nutmeg

pinch ground black pepper (optional)

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1/4 cup coffee or water 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

• Sift together flour, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.
• Cream butter and sugar until smooth in a mixer.
• Beat in molasses, water and vanilla.
• Gradually add in flour mixture until a smooth dough is formed.
• Divide the dough into 2 portions (dough will be quite soft) and cover with plastic wrap.
• Refrigerate till firm (about 2 hours)

Preheat oven to 190C (375F)

For softer cookies :

• Roll out the dough to just under 1/4" thick on a lightly floured surface.
• Use cookie cutters of your choice 92-3" gingerbread man are ideal) to cut the dough.
• Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Bake for 9-12mins (depending on the size of the cookie cutter)
• Cookie should be slightly firm to touch at the edges.
• Let cookie cool on the baking sheet for 5 mins before transferring on a wire rack to cool completely.

For crispier cookies :

• Roll out the dough to just under 1/8" thick on a lightly floured surface.
• Use cookie cutters of your choice (2-3" gingerbread man are ideal) to cut the dough.
• Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Bake for 9-12mins (depending on the size of the cookie cutter)
• Cookie should be slightly firm to touch at the edges and lightly browned.
• Let cookie cool on the baking sheet for 5 mins before transferring on a wire rack to cool completely.

When cool, decorate with lemon icing (recipe below)

Lemon Icing

Ingredients

2 cups confectioners' sugar (icing sugar)

2-3 tbsp lemon juice

Method

• In a small bowl icing sugar with lemon juice.
• If you do not have fresh lemon juice, you can substitute with milk or cream plus 1 tsp lemon extract.
• Add enough lemon juice to make the icing thick and pourable, but not runny.
• Stir till very smooth
• Scrape into piping bag with a fine tip or a ziploc bag with a corner cut off.
• Pipe onto cooled cookies.
• All to set for at least 30mins or until firm before storing cookies in an airtight container.