How To Make Gingerbread Men Cookies

Step 1: You Will Need:

Step 2: Dry Ingredients

Combine flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

Step 3: Mix

In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar until smooth, then mix in the molasses, water, and vanilla. Add flour mixture in a little at a time until you have a soft dough.

Step 4: Wait

Divide the dough into two pieces, wrap them in plastic, and refrigerate for at least two hours - you need the dough to get firm so that you can work with it.

Step 5: Pre-Heat

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees (190 C, Gas Mark 5)

Step 6: Roll

Roll your dough out on a lightly floured surface until it's between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. Cut gingerbread men out with your cookie cutters and put them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Step 7: Bake

Bake your cookies about 9-12 minutes, until the edges are firm and they're lightly browned. Let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes, and then move them to a cooling rack.

Step 8: Decorate

This is where you can get creative. Use icings, frostings, candies, colored sugars, sprinkles, and other decorative edibles, and start layering them on the cookies. Use your imagination. Experiment. You can always eat any cookies that don't come out the way you want.

Step 9: Done.