Gingerbread Boys

This is the Betty Crocker (1974) recipe I use... mmmmm!

1/2 cup shortening (I use baking margarine or butter)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark molasses
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
3/4 teaspoon ginger (I used a whole teaspoon this year)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice

Cream shortening and sugar. Blend in molasses, water, flour, salt, soda, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. Cover (I place in plastic bags); chill 2 to 3 hours.

Heat oven to 375F. Roll dough 1/4 inch thick on lightly floured cloth-covered board (I roll on lightly floured parchment paper, which I can then transfer directly to the cookie sheet... prevent distortion this way). Cut with gingerbread boy cutter (or cut into house pieces, of course); place on ungreased baking sheet. [Optional: add decorations that will be baked-on.]

Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately remove from baking sheet. (Slide parchment paper off onto flat newspaper.)

Note: For crisper cookies, roll dough 1/8 inch thick. Bake 8 minutes.

About 2 dozen cookies.

Additional notes from me: walls, roof, and other structural pieces should definitely be crisp... so roll thin! The 1/4 cookies are nice and soft... but not structually sound. If you do get your pieces too thick, bake a little longer, and apply melted chocolate to the back to firm up. The number of gingerbread batches you will need depends on the house you're building. I generally need 2-3 batches. Make sure to cool the gingerbread dough, because then it's considerably less sticky while rolling.

And one final note: if you need to cool the chocolate faster, and happen to live somewhere cold (like Winnipeg in winter), take the pieces being glued outside for a few minutes (or seconds, depending on just how miserable a day it is) and the chocolate will harden much faster. ;)