Another of our Christmas traditions is to bake Gingerbread men cookies to hang on the Christmas tree. I like to use the Joy of Cooking gingerbread men recipe. It is a basic recipe, nothing complicated. The only thing I do different than suggested, is that I roll out the dough onto a flour dusted cookie sheet so I do not have to transfer the cut figures. It seems to work well to remove the excess dough, leaving the gingerbread men in perfect form already on the baking sheet. I then put holes in their heads with a skewer so that I can thread ribbon through them and put them on the Christmas tree. Elle and I made Gingerbread men this week while Maya was at Playgroup. After we collected Maya we came home to decorate them. Making ginger bread men is a favorite indoor winter activity. Playing with the dough, and decorating the figures can span all afternoon. Here is Elle baking, a this week and some photos of the 2009 Gingerbread men on the Christmas tree.

Gingerbread Men

1/4 cup of butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup dark molasses

3 1/2 cups of plain flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of cloves

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1teaspoon of ginger

1/4 – 1/3 cup of water

Method

Pre-heat oven to 400˚C

Blend butter, sugar and molasses until creamy, sift dry ingredients and add to the butter mixture gradually. Add the water, and depending on how stiff you want the consistency, add either 1/4 of a cup or 1/3 of a cup. For rolling out and cutting you want the mixture to be firm, but not sticky. Combine well, I do this by hand, like kneading bread. Turn out onto floured surface and roll out to a 1/2  cm thickness. Cut desired shapes and bake for 8minutes. Allow to cool slightly before removing.