The Perfect Gingerbread Men Recipe
This recipe is adapted from Rose Levy Berenbaum's recipe for gingerbread men. I like them so much that I'll eat it plain without decoration. It's positiviely addicting!
Equipment
- Cookie tray
- food processor
- gingerbread mold for cookies
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ cup molasses
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅓ cup plus one tablespoon dark brown sugar
- optional: Royal Icing, candies, raisins to decorate
Instructions
- Cut your butter into half-inch cubes, wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (It will be hard to shape and roll if your butter is warm.)
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium bowl.
- In your food processor or blender, process the brown sugar until very fine. Add the butter cubes and pulse. Measure ¼ cup of molasses and half an egg and process them until incorporated.
- Add the flour mixture and pulse until it begins to come together.
- Scrape the dough into a sheet of plastic wrap and press it into a round 1/2 inch thick disc. Chill for 3 hours or overnight.
- Twenty minutes before baking, preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Set your dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Add a layer of flour and cover it with another layer of plastic wrap. Roll your dough until it’s 1/8 inch thick.
- Cut your cookie with a gingerbread cutter. If it gets sticky, brush it with flour. Gather the scraps and re-roll to cut. If too warm, refridgerate them and try again later.
- Place your cookies 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Then, rotate your pan and bake for another 6-8 minutes.
- To test to see if they’re ready, lightly tap them with a chopstick or skewer. If they immediately dent, it’s too soft. They should be just barely able to withstand the tap.
- Take your cookies out and set them on a wire rack to cool for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy!