Deliciousness! ~Day Fifteen~

Hello lovlies! Hope you are having a great Saturday! One of my favorite recent traditions for Christmas is to make gingerbread men with my mom. We spend hours making and decorating them! Here's a yummy recipe to make some yourself. Let me know what you think! 

Gingerbread Men

(Courtesy of www.cakeandallie.com)

 *Makes approximately 40 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup water
1 Tbs ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

In a large saucepan, stir together sugar, molasses, water, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir until sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and add butter. Stir occasionally until the butter is melted and incorporated. Let cool for 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the molasses mixture (after it’s cooled) with a wooden spoon. Mix until combined.

Place dough into a gallon sized Ziploc bag and flatten the dough evenly into one sheet. Refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 375F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Prepare a clean, flat surface with a light dusting of flour. Working with 1/4 of the dough at a time, roll dough to a 1/4 inch thickness, adding flour as need. With a floured cookie cutter, cut dough into desired shapes. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, until set and lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool on cooling racks before icing.

Royal Icing
Ingredients:

1 Tbs meringue powder
2 cups powdered sugar
4-5 Tbs of water
red & green food coloring, if desired

Place ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat until icing is smooth and matte, about 8 minutes. Color and pipe icing as desired.