Gingerbread Man Cookies

Ingredients:

Orange base

• 165 g lightly salted butter, softened
• 1 and 2/3 cups sugar
• Zest of 1 orange

Dry ingredients

• 4 cups of premium flour + 0.5 cups extra for work, as needed
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 tsp of soda
• 1 tbsp. ground dry ginger
• 0.5 tsp ground nutmeg
• 0.5 tsp ground allspice
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 0.5 tsp coarse salt

Liquid ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 0.5 cups dark molasses
• Juice of 1 lemon

Orange glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 1 - 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
• 0.5 tsp. orange liqueur
• 1/4 teaspoon light corn syrup

Preparation:

1. Warp: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, place the butter, sugar and orange zest and beat until smooth, 5-8 minutes.
2. Dry ingredientsIn a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, dried ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Mix well and set aside.
   
   Liquid ingredients: In another bowl, whisk together eggs, molasses, and lemon juice.
3. Preheat oven to 175°C.
4. Once the butter and sugar are combined, reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients. Add the egg mixture and, once combined, remove the mixer bowl. Divide the cookie dough in half. Press one half of the dough between two sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Repeat with the other half. Chilled dough will be easier to roll out. Also, only one half of the dough will be heated as you roll it out.
5. Lightly flour a flat surface. Also flour a rolling pin and carefully roll out one half of the dough to a thickness of about 1 cm. Lightly flour cookie cutters and cut out shapes, leaving as little scraps as possible.
6. Using a metal spatula, carefully transfer the cookies one by one to the baking sheet (the cookies should be uniform in size). Repeat with the other half of the dough and transfer the cookies to another baking sheet. These cookies may spread slightly when baked. Space the shapes slightly apart. It's better to spread the cookies thinly across 3 baking sheets than to cram them tightly onto 2 baking sheets..
   
   Bake until golden brown around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through.
   
   

   Cooking tips

   
   Have any dough scraps left over? Roll them into a ball, flatten them, and refrigerate. Cookies made with this dough may be firmer because they were kneaded longer..

7. Simple Orange Glaze

   
   Why not decorate the gingerbread with icing?
   
   Add all ingredients to a medium bowl and whisk until combined. If the glaze is too thick, add a little orange juice or water.
   
   Transfer the icing to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and pipe it between two cookie shapes. Gently press the two icing-covered cookies into the center.

8. Culinary decorating tips

   
   Festive Gingerbread Cookies - These cookies are so pretty you can serve them just as is!
   
   I love springerle, German anise-flavored cookies, for the delicate molds (and carved rolling pins) used to make them. I've baked these cookies with a raised design using springerle molds, and the results were stunning. They're the kind of cookies that make people drool over them for a long time before they finish half the plate in one sitting!
   
   
   Simply dust decorative cookie cutters (or a rolling pin) with flour, lightly tapping off any excess. Roll the dough out very thinly (1–0.5 cm thick). Cut or roll the dough out using the cookie cutters and run a sharp knife around them to create shapes. Place the cookies, spaced slightly apart, on a greased baking sheet sprinkled with anise seeds and bake for 6–8 minutes. Not using cookie cutters? Scoop the dough with a teaspoon and roll into balls. Press the balls onto the greased baking sheet or press the edges with the tines of a fork to create ridges. Bake until the edges are golden brown, 10–12 minutes.