Gingerbread Men

I have not made gingerbread cookies since i was a kid. I never really knew anyone that liked them. Yes, they are traditional Christmas, but why make them if no one is going to eat them? This year, i placed an ad on Kijiji for baked goods for Christmas, and one of the things i had posted was gingerbread men for decorating. When i got an order, i searched online for a recipe and found this one. It was a couple weeks ago, so i can't really remember where i got it, but i believe it was at All Recipes.


Gingerbread Men


1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Cream margarine and sugar, Stir in molasses and egg. Combine flour, soda, powder and spices. Blend into molasses mixture.
Cover, chill for 1 hour or overnight. Roll and cut into desired shapes. Bake at 350 F for 8 to 10 minutes.

The recipe made only 11 large gingerbread men, approximately 5 inches high. Since i needed 24, i ended up making 3 batches of dough. The second and third i made at the same time and cooled/cut/baked together. When i was making the third batch, i ran out of molasses, so i had to run down to the store to get another container. It was a different brand than the first, and therefore the third batch of batter turned out darker.

In the end, i had a bit of extra dough, not enough for a big cookie, but enough for some small ones! I cut out about 6 small gingerbread men to. I also ended up with some leftovers, and because i was watching K that night and we had my friend and her 4 year old son over, i took cookies along to decorate. 

These were done by Jethro and his Mommy

And these were decorated by K and I.

It ended up being a fun night, since we also traded gifts, took the kids for pizza and they helped us make some oatmeal-cinnamon-chocolate chip cookies as well. Then we sent the kiddies off to K's room and while they made a mess, we talked, as girls are apt to do :-) 

Hope everyone is ready for Christmas, only 4 more days to go!!