Holiday Time Recipes - Gingerbread Boys

One of my favorite holiday traditions when my son was little was when his Grandma would come over and put together a Gingerbread house. The house would stay up all Christmas Season long and while we would pick at the candy decorations through the Season, we were not allowed to eat the house itself.

Grandma took care of this and also baked up little Gingerbread people and this is the recipe I want to share this month.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 zvup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 Cups light molasses
• 2/3 Cup water or apple juice
• 6 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp each baking soda and salt
• 1 tsp each ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves and all spice
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten

In large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add molasses and beat until blended, then mix in water.  In another bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and allspice. Gradually add to butter mixture, blending to form a stiff dough.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

On a floured board, roll out dough, a portion at a time, to a thickness of 3/16 inch. cut out using ginger bread cutter. With cutter still in place, transfer cookie and cutter with a wide spatula to a lightly greased baking sheet.  Lift off cutter and repeat.  

Bake in a 350 degrees oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until lighly browned.  Transfer cookies to racks and let cool completely.  Decorate as desired. 

This recipe will yield about 4 dozen, but I promise they will not last long!