Gingerbread Men Cookies and a Giveaway!

*Giveaway is now closed*

My little one had a paper come home from school and we were to mark which cookies we could bring in. There were latkes from Israel, Mexican Wedding Cookies from Mexico, Windmill Cookies from Holland, Snickerdoodles from Germany and Gingerbread Cookies from USA. It's been a few years since I've made Gingerbread men cookies, so I choose to make those, rather than buy them, of course!

These are also part of Susan's Christmas cookie blog event. Check out part 1 and part 2 so far!



The recipe I used came from Baking Bites. I really liked the mild flavor of them and I thought they'd be perfect for little ones. I baked mine at 350' for 10 minutes.

Gingerbread men
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
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cinnamon.In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in molasses, water and vanilla, then gradually add in flour mixture until a smooth dough forms. Divide dough into two or three pieces (dough will be quite soft), cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until firm.

Preheat oven to 375F.
For softer cookies:
On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to just under 1/4 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters of your choice (2-3″ gingerbread men are ideal!) to cut dough. Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-12 minutes, depending on size of cookie cutter. Cookies should be slightly firm to the touch at the edges. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For crispier cookies:
On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to just under 1/8 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters of your choice (2-3″ gingerbread men are ideal!) to cut dough. Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-12 minutes, depending on size of cookie cutter. Cookies should be slightly firm to the touch at the edges and will be lightly browned. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
When cool, decorate with icing.

Makes about 30-40 gingerbread men, depending on size of cookie cutters used and whether you make them thick or thin.





drying out of reach


This Royal icing has meringue powder in it instead of egg whites. It makes it safe for little ones to eat.

3 tablespoons Meringue Powder
4 cups (about 1 lb.) confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons warm water

Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).

NOTE: Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency.
~ for piping my cookies, I had to add probably 8-10 TBL of water to get the consistency I wanted.


I also made a batch for us, using my mom's recipe, which is a little stronger in flavor, I think.


Mom's Gingerbread men
1 C shortening
1 Cup sugar
1 egg
1 Cup molasses
2 TBL white vinegar
5 Cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves

Cream shortening with sugar. Stir in egg, molasses and vinegar beat well. Sift together dry ingredients and gradually stir into molasses mixture. Chill at least 3 hours.
On lightly floured surface, roll dough to either 1/8" or 1/4" thickness. Cut out and place 1 inch apart on lined baking sheet. Bake 350' for 10 minutes. Transfer to cooling racks to cool. Decorate with icing and red hots.




Now, who wants to do a Givewaway for some neat prizes?



Pillsbury sent me a care package full of goodies and I am offering to let one of my readers win a neat little set of 10 Mini Holiday Pie Cutters from Crate & Barrel and a CD ROM with Pillsbury recipes and such on it.

So, all you have to do is comment below with your name/email, telling me what you want from Santa!

Earn extra entries by:

-Blogging about this giveaway, leave your link
-Following me on Twitter
-Subscribing to my RSS Feed via email or reader (enter my blog's URL)
-Following me on my blog's side bar widget
-Snag my Blog Button for your site (found here), leave your link

Leave an additional comment for each extra entry.

Deadline: 7pm pst, Sunday, December 21, 2008

The fine print:
-Open to USA readers only please
-I will choose a random winner using Random.org and blog who it is
-I'll also email you and comment to you on your blog
-You will have 3 days to respond or I'll choose another winner
-I verify your email/click-able name, blog posts and button placement on blogs
-If you do not comment with a way I can contact you, your comment will be deleted and you'll have to re-comment with such info if you'd like a chance to win
Thank you!
(I can not guarantee this to arrive before Christmas.)

Happy Holidays!