Ingredients
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 1/2 cups molasses
- 2/3 cup cold water
- 7 cups flour, more if necessary
- 2 t baking soda
- 1 t salt
- 1 t allspice
- 1 t ginger
- 1 t cloves
- 1 t cinnamon
Preparation
Step 1
Mix butter, sugar and molasses
Stir in water
Sift together dry ingredients and add to mixture
Roll dough 3/8 inches thick and cut with 5 inch gingerbread man cutter
Bake in 350 degree oven 12-15 minutes on a lightly greased pan
Decorate with raisins and cinnamon candies before baking
Makes about 32 thin gingerbread men
Paper Bag Puppet
Materials
Brown construction paper
Scissors
Brown paper bags
Glue
Buttons, felt scraps, yarn and decorative trim
Scraps of wallpaper or construction paper
Optional: fine brush and white paint
Steps
1 Cut out brown circle that has a diameter slightly larger than the bag
2 Cut a half circle that has the same diameter
3 To trim the whole brown circle, cut 1 inch from each side of the bottom third of the circle, then continue cutting around the bottom edge of the circle to make a semicircle.
This is the upper part of the peppet's mouth.
4 Glue the trimmed circle to flap of the bag. Overlap the edge.
5 Glue the half circle slightly under the flap of the bag
6 Glue on button eyes, felt cheeks and red yarn lips
Cut out a body shape from brown construction paper and glue to front of bag
Dress up the pepper with wallpaper for clothes, buttons and decorative trim
7 If desired, children can paint icing trim on the face and body with a fine brush and white paint
Use the puppet to tell the gingerbread man story
Make gingerbread cookies using the recipe above