31 Cups: The GingerMan Cookie *Recipe!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

The GingerMan Cookie *Recipe!

GingerMan Cookies!

My personal decorating abilities leave much to be desired.

Last week one evening we had a gingerbread party. It was full of ruckus and loud boisterous chatting amongst The Littles. Eggs were beat and flour sifted. Molasses was tasted and brown sugar measured. Raisins and mini M&Ms sprinkled my floor. We read two books and had Cookies With Supper! A good time was had by all!


The pans look like they have seen better days...

Soup, homemade bread, and cookies for supper!

He looks a bit like The Blob, but a GingerMan is hidden beneath that Maple Glaze exterior.

Find It Here!

They had been begging me to make 'GingerMan' cookies ever since we pulled out the Christmas Book Box and read through The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth and Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. I have hesitated to make the little men the last few years because they never eat them! They like the idea of decorating little people but they don't like the richness and heartiness of gingerbread and so I end up eating them all. :/

Find it here!

This year, though, I caved and we pulled out all the ingredients and on a whim used the recipe from the back of the book. Mostly because Sir Bean really, really wanted to make the little yellow trousered, blue jacketed, GingerMan that stars in The Gingerbread Man and it came with a recipe. He gave me the eyes and upon looking at the recipe I decided it a worthy trial run cookie.

So Glad we did! It was perfect! They have emptied the Jar in one week! Perhaps their tastes are changing due to us eating less refined foods?! {Secretly Jumping For Joy!}


Oh So Empty!

And So with Full Credit given to Jim Aylesworth I give you:

The Best GingerMan Cookie

Sift into a big bowl and mix:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon gound cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Beat together in another bowl:

1 lg egg

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

2/3 cup dark molasses

6 Tablespoons softened butter

Add dry ingredients slowly to the wet mixture until well blended. Cover and refriderate for one hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Use flour on your rolling pin and cutting board to keep dough from sticking. Roll out a portion of the dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut out your GingerMen with a floured cookie cutter. Decorate with Raisins, M&Ms, chocolate chips and whatever else you can think of! Place 1 inch apart on a buttered cookie sheet and bake 8 minutes or until slightly firm to touch. Cool on pan one minute and then transfer to wire rack (if you have one :))

We did decorate some of our men with a simple Maple Glaze.

Maple Glaze

They smelled so good!

1 Cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

water

In a small bowl add sugar and extract. Slowly add water a little bit at a time until you have a thick pasty glaze. Spread on cookies and let harden. Can add decorations to the glaze before it hardens. :)