Gingerbread Cookies with Royal Icing

My son loves the story of the Gingerbread Man. He runs around the house saying "Ah uh, you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man." I thought it would be fun to make our own Gingerbread Men. He loved it. 

Gingerbread Cookies

1/2 c. butter

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. molasses

1 egg yolk

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Cream butter and sugar. Add molasses and egg yolk. In a medium bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Chill for at least an hour. It's a fairly sticky dough so you might need to chill it a little longer.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough to 1/4" thick and cut with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2" apart on a baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. If you bake them on the short end they will stay soft and chewy and if you bake them on the longer end they will be nice and crispy. 

Royal Icing 
This recipe makes a TON of frosting so I cut it down to a 1/3 recipe and it was plenty for a single recipe of Gingerbread Men.

3 egg whites
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tarter


1/3 recipe:
1 egg white
1 1/3 c. powdered sugar
1/6 tsp. cream of tarter


Beat all ingredients until stiff peaks form. Dries hard. 


Recipe Source: Our Best Bites