Gingerbread Men Cookies

In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy; 2-3 minutes. Beat in the molasses and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together all of the
dry ingredients (flour to cloves) then gradually beat into the wet ingredientsuntil combined.The mixture will be quite sticky. Lay out two pieces of plastic wrap on the
counter and add half the mixture to each. With damp hands, shape each into a disk and wrap with the plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
(This is a great make ahead recipe and the dough can be made up to 1-2 days in advance.)
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Take out one of the discs from the refrigerator. Lightly flour a large surface and rolling pin. Roll the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies as you can.
Place 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Gather the scraps together, sprinkle a little more flour on the workspace and rolling pin, and re-roll the dough. Continue rolling and cutting the cookies until the cookie sheets are full and you have no more dough.
Bake for 8-9 minutes. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the
remaining disk in the refrigerator.
Stir together the powdered sugar and milk until the icing is smooth.Decorate the gingerbread man cookies as desired. For easy decorating use a squeeze bottle or pastry bag. Let the iced cookies dry completely.
After which they can be stacked in an airtight container.

Recipe and video by Italian-based food blogger
Cindy Swain from italicanakitchen.com

Products used