Food Friday: Gingerbread Mean

Sally's Baking Addiction has a very nice gingerbread cookie recipe.  I tried it and can verify that it tastes good.  To the detriment of my blood sugar...! Also, the recipe brought an easy result.

This recipe takes time because the dough needs to be refrigerated for several hours.  DON'T FORGET THIS STEP or your success is not to be expected.  When I made the dough, I put it in the refrigerator before heading out for a doctor appointment, too many errands, and a class at the YMCA.  When I got home about 6 hours later, the dough was perfectly chilled and ready to be rolled, cut, and cooked. 

Sally's Favorite Gingerbread Men Recipe

10 Tablespoons softened butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup molasses
1 egg at room temperature (put in a bowl of warm water while you get everything else together if you forgot to remove the egg from the refrigerator an hour before when you took the butter out of the refrigerator...)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 TABLESPOON powdered ginger
1 TABLESPOON powdered cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice.  Set aside.

If you have a stand mixer, this is a good time to use it.  Otherwise, do the best you can by hand mixer.

Cream the butter until very smooth.  Add the sugar and molasses and beat again until very well mixed.  Add the egg and beat for 3 minutes by the clock.  Scrape down the bowl often.

Add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and stir until perfectly combined.

Lay out on your counter a large piece of plastic wrap.  Take half of the dough and form into a disk.  Place on the plastic wrap and completely encase in the plastic.  Repeat with other half.  Put both disks in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Remove dough from plastic and  roll out to about 1/4 inch thick on a well-floured board.  The rolling pin needs to also be floured.  Cut out into gingerbread men and bake from 9 minutes to 15 minutes.  I think our men were a little more than 1/4 inch thick so they took longer to cook.  (Read Sally's recipe for her take on this part of the process.)

Remove from oven and cool on pan for 5 minutes then remove from pan and put on cooling rack until completely cool. 

Decorate however you want.  OR just eat them as is.

This is what our men look like cooling on the rack.

Merry Christmas to all!  If I was near you, I would make you gingerbread men...May your season be filled with love and joy as you ponder the blessing of the gifts of Jesus Christ.