gingerbread do-over

OK, admittedly the last thing I need right now is more cookies in the house. In fact, last night I had told myself that there would be no baking today. My digestive health is suffering and I needed a day free of refined sugar and white (albeit unbleached -- thank you, King Arthur!) flour. And I knew I had a full day of baking ahead of me on Saturday (which will be interesting since I'm having my pupils dilated that morning too).

However, those godawful gingerbread men from yesterday still stare at me from the racks in my kitchen. (Remember how I hate to throw food away? That's why they are still in my kitchen and not at the curb.) So before breakfast this morning I perused my cookbooks and found a gingerbread recipe that met my needs. What this means is it wouldn't necessitate dipping too heavily into my supply of eggs and butter. And it made less than 50-some cookies.

The recipe seemed a bit unconventional to me. You heat the molasses, add butter, sugar and milk. Then add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt and spices) and form a dough. I was concerned the heat would cook the dough, but apparently not. Then you roll, cut and bake. I was surprised to discover that the men rose and expanded a bit in the oven, which distorted their shape a bit. I don't remember this from my previous forays into gingerbread man making. I'll just define them with the icing instead.

This batch is subtly sweet, spicy, crisp but with a touch of chewiness inside. In short, they are everything gingerbread men should be.