I love making gingerbread men because all the smily faces really bring joy to me while making them or looking at them after ^-^ It's fun, a lot of room for creativities, and yummy! (Although I tend to give them out as gifts instead of eating them, I found it cruel to bite the smilies 
)
This is the 2nd recipe I tried for gingerbread cookies and I found the color was very nice and uniform and it tastes very good! I love it when my apartment filled with the smell of gingerbread... so Christmas!
Ingredients
Cookies (makes 18-24)
3 cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon gound cloves, 2/3 cup butter(soften), 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup molasses, 1 egg
Royal Icing (makes 2 1/2 cups)
2 cups icing sugar, 4 teaspoons meringue powder, 3 tablespoons cold water
(Please visit Glossary for explanations of ingredients and baking terms)
Difficulty: ¡ï¡ï¡î¡î¡î
To make the cookies
1. Stir together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and cloves in a medium bowl. Set flour mixture aside.
2. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30sec. Add brown sugar and molasses, Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg. Beat in flour mixture on low speed just until mixture is combined. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill the dough for about 3 hours or until dough is easy to handle.
3. Preheat oven to 375F (180C). Lightly grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper; set aside. Roll each portion of dough to a 1/4 inch thickness on a well-floured surface. Cutout shapes with a lightly floured cookie cutter. Place cutouts 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 7-8 min or until edges are light brown. Cool on cookie sheets on wire racks for 1 min. Transfer cookies to wire racks and cool completely.
5. Decorate cookies with Royal Icing.
To make the Royal Icing
1. Stir together icing sugar and meringue powder in a medium bowl. Add water. Beat with an electic mixer on low speed until combined. Beat on medium to high speed for 5-8 min or until icing is very stiff. (If mixture becomes too stiff, add more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time).
2. If desired, divide icing into portions and tint each portion with a different paste food coloring. Decorate cookies at once with icing. Keep remaining icing covered when not in use.
