A gingerbread man, name of Stan

Was smiling as he left the pan,

He said, “I won’t run,

Cuz I know we’d have fun…,

If you’re nice and don’t bite me, we can.”

*Gingersnap Recipe

In a saucepan, heat up:

1 cup butter

1 cup molasses

1/2 cup brown sugar

Bring to a boil, while stirring the mixture. Let it simmer about a minute until it is bubbling vigorously.

Take it off the heat and pour it into a mixing bowl.

Have dry ingredients ready to add to the syrup mixture.

3 and 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon powdered ginger

Mix dry ingredients with syrup mixture and then pour it onto a heavy plate  to put into the fridge to cool for a few hours. I make a couple of cuts in the dough to quarter it on the plate so I can more easily get it off the plate in pieces when it is cooled.

Roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thickness (it will be hard to roll out at first until the dough loosens up and warms a bit – this is where the man of the house comes in handy) and use a cookie cutter to make the round shape of gingersnaps.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes (until the edges are just beginning to turn darker brown). Take them out of the oven and set them aside for a couple of minutes before trying to put them on a cooling rack. They will get “snappy” as they cool.

Use the leftover pieces of dough to make your gingerbread man.