Gingerbread men

Gingerbread men became a constant presence in our Christmas. I started making them regularly a few years ago, following this recipe. This year I decided to try a new one, the one that should be the original one.

I say should because we know that with recipes it often happens that everyone adds or removes an ingredient on his/her own. And I changed this original recipe by Peggy Porschen (which I found in Sara’s beautiful blog, which I had the pleasure of meeting a few years ago during a trip to a Chianti winery in Tuscany), using much less butter, and I assure you that these gingerbread men are delicious.

I think molasses make the difference. An ingredient that I have always seen in different recipes but never knew where to find it here in Italy, and that I found thanks to Sara who suggests looking in organic shops.

Super approved recipe.

Ingredients:

• 5 tablespoons of water
• 3 tablespoons of molasses
• 3 tablespoons of powdered ginger
• 1 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 0.46 lb light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons of honey
• 3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
• 0.33 lb salted butter
• 1.23 lb flour

Preparation:

1. Put water, molasses, ginger, cloves in powder, brown sugar, honey, and cinnamon in a saucepan and put on medium heat.
2. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Turn off the gas.
3. Add a small piece of butter at a time, always stirring, adding the following after the first is perfectly absorbed.
4. Add the baking soda and let the mixture cool.
5. Add the flour a little at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon.
6. In the end, use your hands if necessary, to create a homogeneous dough that you will wrap in plastic film and leave to rest for at least 3 hours in the fridge.
7. Roll out the dough, a little at a time, between two sheets of parchment paper. Cut out the gingerbread men using the special mold and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
8. If your environment is warm, let them rest for another half hour in the fridge before baking them at 180 ° C. Otherwise, bake them immediately.
9. Cook them for 10 minutes and then let them rest on a wire rack.
10. Buon appetito and Merry Christmas!