Old-fashioned Christmas Gingerbread Man Cookies are a sweet way to celebrate the holidays! You’ll love cutting out these wholesome cookies, made with warm spices and real molasses. Piping on the decorations is so fun!
In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, baking soda, and cloves. Set aside.
In a large bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and molasses, beating until well combined.
Little by little, add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, beating to combine after each addition, until the dough comes together.
Divide the dough into two balls, and roll each ball of dough between two sheets of parchment to a ¼ inch thickness. (You can also roll the dough between sheets of wax paper.)
Chill the rolled dough for at least one hour, but ideally two hours or more.
When ready to cut and bake, preheat the oven to 350°F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Peel the upper sheet of parchment away from each piece of chilled dough. Cut gingerbread men out of the dough using cookie cutters, and place them on the baking sheets, leaving a little room between them for spreading.
Place the cookies in the oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies are slightly browned on the edges.
Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool completely.
While the cookies cool, make the icing by combining the powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla extract in a bowl. Whisk until smooth. (If the icing seems too thick, you can thin it with additional milk. If it is too thin, you can thicken it with additional powdered sugar. Keep in mind that thicker icing will stay in place better on the cookies.
Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a small, round tip. You can also use a plastic sandwich bag, cutting a tiny sliver off of one corner to make a very small piping hole.
Pipe the icing onto the cookies as desired. Allow the icing to dry for about 30 minutes. Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.