Gingerbread man

I'm sure most (if not all) kids would not refuse a gingerbread man. I think it must be the sugared sparkles that attract them like bee to honey.

When I saw this flickered at Happy Flour's blogsite, my xmas mood was set and I knew that it would be something the kids would truly enjoy.

Adapted recipe
(Yields about 40 gingerbread men, but this could vary depending on your cookie size and how thick you roll your cookies)

65g unsalted butter, room temperature
65g light brown sugar (if you want sweeter, original recipe states 80g)
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
180g molasses (used 110g treacle, 45g dark molasses, 20g golden syrup - reason for this combination was that I ran out of treacle. Taste wise it came out good.)
445g plain flour
1tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
2. Shift dry ingredients and set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in egg and molasses mixture slowly. Note that the mixture may curdle, if so add some flour.
5. Fold in flour until well combined. Dough must be soft but not sticky.
6. Rest dough in fridge for 25 min.
7. Roll dough out and cut desired shape.
8. Decorate cookies as desired. Note that this step is optional. I didn't want to handle icing sugar so I opted to decorate 1st before baking them. Only down side is that the M&M's cracked but I think they give them a 'rustic' look!! Ha ha
9. Place them on parchment paper and bake for about 10-12 min, depending on size and thickness of cookie.
10. Leave cookies on tray for 5 min before transferring to rack to cool completely.
11. If you opted not to follow step 8, then decorate them with sprinkles of your choice with some royal icing.
12. Keep in air-tight container.
    

Even without any wrappings, you'll make a child deliriously happy or put a smile on any grown up!!

Bench notes - I found the dough really easy to handle. Taste of cookie not compromised with the multiple rolling of dough.