Spicy Gingerbread Men

The Vaughn family has come to a consensus...  These are the best gingerbread men we have ever baked. (and we've tried a lot of different recipes through the years)  These actually taste good!  Nice and soft, but firm enough to stack and store.
Get a bunch of cheap candy from the dollar store.  Mix up some icing.
Make a big mess and have fun!!!

So, here's the yummy recipe:

Spicy Gingerbread Men

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar

1 cup molasses
2 egg yolks

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cloves
1-2 teaspoons ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in molasses and egg yolk. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; blend into the molasses mixture until smooth. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until firm. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. Frost and decorate when cool.

The teeny-bopper girls did this part.  For some reason, I hate rolling out dough.

  Pretty crazy looking, right?  You should have seen the kitchen!  : )

Makes 5 dozen cookies and lots of happy, hyper children.   Enjoy!