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Gingerbread Men & Houses

Fun to cut & decorate, & fun to eat.   They keep well even if hung on the tree for a couple of weeks.  See below for construction-grade gingerbread.  A step-by-step photographic guide to making and decorating a gingerbread house is on my flickr site here.

house photo

Sheets ungreased   Oven  350 degrees F  Time 13-16 minutes

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup  sugar

1 egg
1/2 cup molasses

Mill:
  350 grams soft wheat 
  1 stick cinnamon (about 3 inches worth at 1/4 inch diameter)
  1 teaspoon cloves
OR
    2 1/2 cups unbleached or whole wheat pastry flour
    2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
    1 teaspoon ground cloves

 1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon powder   

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and molasses until smooth and light.  

Whisk dry ingredients together, then stir into wet, just until mixed.  

Chill dough.  Roll out 1/4 inch thick and cut out.  Transfer to ungreased cookie sheets.  

Bake 13-16 minutes at 350 until done.

Makes 2 dozen gingerbread people @ 106 calories:
     37    % fat        58% carbos          6 % protein

For making gingerbread for construction:

Use all purpose or part bread flour, or half and half whole wheat bread flour and whole wheat pastry flour.  For cookies that are going to be hung on the tree, roll a little thicker and make a big hole (bigger than you think necessary) for a piece of yarn or ribbon to hang the cookie.  The hole will shrink during baking.

For gingerbread houses or other edible edifices, double the recipe to fill a 12 x 17 jelly roll pan.  Pat and roll the gingerbread to fill the pan.  It should end up more than 1/4 inch thick, and when baked, will be about 1/2 inch thick.   Do not cut out the building pieces until after baking.  That way, you can make nice, sharp, square edges on thick, sturdy pieces that will easily stand together.   Attach the pieces together with egg white cement:  mix the white of one egg*  with enough powdered sugar to make a thick paste.  Spread over edges to be joined and hold together for a few seconds until the are fimly joined.  The egg-white cement will dry very hard and strong.   Use sturdy Decorator Frosting to decorate and adorn the houses with candies or dried fruits and nuts. 

*If you're concerned about salmonella or other things in raw eggs, you can use commercially available pasteurized egg whites for the cement.

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