Making gingerbread men at Christmastime is a given — we’ve made them every December since we were married…and naturally, the tradition continued when our two children came along…in fact, it got more involved and a whole lot more fun!

I have always made gingerbread men with molasses in them….it’s the recipe I grew up with and what Ken was used to, also….but this year, I decided to try the recipe out of my Good Home Cookbook, seeing as everything I have tried from that book thus far has far from disappointed us. This particular recipe uses no molasses….the “sticky” ingredients are instead honey and light corn syrup. The dough is still very pliable and easy to work with….

They held their shape well during baking and the kids set to work embellishing them.

The taste? The kids were smitten. R has always loved the spicy, rich gingerbread flavor….but G wasn’t so fond of it….so now he has a favorite, too. These are more like Dutch cookies….or windmill cookies….lightly spiced and just right for sensitive little palates. They were a HIT.

And so I’ll share the recipe with you! Enjoy!

The Good Home Cookbook’s Gingerbread Cookies

2 to 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground cloves
1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened
1/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar
3 T. corn syrup
1/3 c. honey
1/2 t. lemon zest
1/2 t. vanilla extract

Sift 2 cups of flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger,salt, and cloves into a medium bowl and set aside. Beat the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in the corn syrup, honey, lemon zest, and vanilla. Gradually mix in the flour mixture to make a soft dough. If the dough is too soft, add the remaining 1/4 c. flour, 1 T. at a time.

Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line several baking sheets with parchment. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut into desired shapes and place (with a large spatula) to the ungreased baking sheets. Bake about 8 minutes, until puffed and dry.

Let stand for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 48.

(I only got about 20 medium-sized gingerbread men out of this recipe — I used a 4″ cutter. I also made my own icing instead of following the icing directions from the book, which I didn’t include. I simply combined lemon juice, a teaspoon of powdered egg whites, a smidge of vanilla, and powdered sugar until of piping consistency.)

Go over to Rocks In My Dryer to read other WFMW tips for this week!