Gingerbread men

I had made my gingerbread earlier this week and was planning to decorate them yesterday after dinner. SO I'm in the middle of making the royal icing and realize that I am one cup of powdered sugar short. I thought I had another bag in the cupboard, but sadly, I was mistaken. I then decided to hop in the car and run over to Walmart. Although I really don't like to support Walmart, at 9:30 at night my choices are limited. To my surprise, Walmart was out of powdered sugar!

I took it as a sign from God after a long long long day that I should just go home and go to bed. I wasn't going to drive to the next county for powdered sugar.

SO today, I go to my normal grocery after work to buy powdered sugar. And they were out too! I don't understand rural life that there is a run on powdered sugar 2 weeks before Christmas. it's just unreal that there is no powdered sugar in town.

I did manage to find 3 half pound boxes that were hidden behind some sugar cubes at the grocery. Of course, I was so flustered by the powdered sugar shortage that I forgot to buy the flour to rebake the gingerbread house. The gingerbread house is in bad shape. Interestingly, Walmart still has no powdered sugar. I wasn't going to go right back to the same grocery I came from to get the flour and I was curious to see if Walmart had restocked.

But this is my favorite gingerbread recipe and I could sit here and eat these little tiny ones I cut out all afternoon. It's from Rose Levy Beranbaum's cookbook, Rose's Christmas Cookies. When I moved here in January, about 10 pages were lost from the cookbook. Unfortunately the gingerbread recipe was on them. I went into complete panic mode. Fortunately, the local library had a copy and I was able to copy it down and go on with my life. I found the pages the day before yesterday. After I made the cookies.

Gingerbread Men

Rose Levy Beranbaum

3 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

12 Tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 cup unsulfered molasses

1 large egg

Soften the butter. In a small bowl, sift together the flour salt baking soda and spices, then whisk together to mix evenly. In a mixing bowl cream the brown sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the molasses and the egg and beat in the flour mixture until incorporated.

Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and use the wrap to press the dough together to form a thick flat disk. Wrap it well and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours.

Place 2 oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350°F.

Roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thickness and place on greased cookie sheets 1 inch apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until firm to the touch and just beginning to color around the edges. Cool on the sheets for 1 minutes and then transfer to cooling racks.