Gingerbread Men Cookies – Yayyy finally I baked these cute little gingerbread men cookies!! Yes its like a dream come true for me to bake these gingerbread men cookies. First I was complaining that I did not have the cookie cutter but it took me 2 long yrs to bake these cookies even after owning the cookie cutter.Some 2 yrs back when Raji asked me what I wanted when she comes down , I asked for this cookie cutter and she was generous enough to buy the entire christmas themed cookie cutter set with other baking goodies too 🙂 I used most of them for my shortbread cookies and sugar cookies.Somehow I missed to try this gingerbreadmen  in the yrs 2012 and 13 so this year I determined myself to bake these cookies.After sugar cookies, this is the second time I am trying my hands on icing and am pretty much satisfied with the results 🙂

I made the dough the previous night itself and refrigerated it. Yesterday morning I baked these cookies and decorated them. I got around 65 small cookies.I had to bake in 4 batches as my oven is small, it took me around 2 hrs to prepare the icing and decorate it.So if you are planning to bake these cookies, you need some time.When mittu returned from school the first thing she asked me was where is my gingerbreadmen…yes she loves the story of gingerbreadmen and now she was surprised to see those cookies real in her hands.I packed and gave some to mittus little friend and she enjoyed it too.

• You can replace brown sugar with jaggery but I prefer adding brown sugar as adding jaggery as such will have impurities.Jaggery we get here is known for impurities so its better that we make syrup and add it but am not sure of the syrup measures so to be on the safer side chose to use brown sugar.
• If you don’t have the gingerbread men cookie cutter, dont worry you can make any preferred shape of your choice.
• You can adjust the consistency of this icing….If you need to thin the icing add a bit of milk and mix till you get the desired consistency. If you need it thicker, add more icing sugar as required.
• Keep all your required things on your workarea so that its easier to grab things and also clean it later.
• If you find cookies uneven in thickness, bake the thicker cookies in a batch and the thiner cookies in another batch.
• The prepared icing thickens with time so its better to have a slightly runny flowing icing.
• As we need icing for just outline you may not require much of icing but if you prepare to fill the cookies with icing then you can double the ingredients and make the icing.
• When you bake for 8-10 mins the cookies are crunchy but 12 mins was perfect for me as it yielded crispy cookies.Soon after the cookies are baked, it will be soft to touch but after cooling down it will harden.
• This cookie dough keeps well for even a month , just cling wrap it and refrigerate it.And whenever you want to bake, you can unwrap,cut them and bake the cookies.
• While rolling if it sticks dust flour but don’t overdo.
• Make sure to roll thin else your cookies will not get cooked properly and it will become chewy.
• If you feel the dough is a little loose add 1 or 2 tbsp flour and knead it.But don’t add more flour as it might make the cookies chewy in texture.
• Cool down completely before decorating the cookies.
• While arranging the cookies in the tray don’t crowd them, just give nice spacing as the cookies grows slightly.
• I usually keep the prepared baking tray in fridge till preheating time, this avoids the cookies from spreading.
• I used normal plastic covers to prepare the cone, you can even use ziplock covers.Make sure to cut a small hole as it tends to get bigger once we start doing the icing.