Servings: Makes 1 ½ dozen (5-inch) gingerbread guys

1/2 cup fancy molasses ½ cup fancy molasses
1/2 cup dark brown sugar ½ cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar ½ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground sugar 1 teaspoon ground sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup butter, room temperature ¾ cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs 2 eggs
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
 
Finishing touches: subheading: Finishing touches:
1 recipe Royal Icing 1 recipe Royal Icing
36 M&Ms 36 M&Ms
1/2 cups multicolored sprinkles (for their hands and feet!) ½ cups multicolored sprinkles (for their hands and feet!)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a double boiler over medium heat, or a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, combine and stir the molasses, both sugars, cinnamon, and ginger. When the sugars have melted, add the baking soda and stir. When the mixture bubbles up, remove the pot from the heat and set aside.
Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Slowly pour the warm molasses mixture over the butter. With the machine running on medium speed, mix until the butter has completely melted and the mixture has cooled slightly.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the flour until it is fully combined.
Lift the dough from the bowl and place it on a well-floured work surface. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to about ¾ inch thick.
Use your gingerbread man cookie cutter (or a cutter of your choice) to cut out about 18 large cookies. Carefully transfer the cookies onto prepared trays and place them about ½ inch apart. You will need to combine the scraps and reroll the dough several times to use it all up, but not to worry as this is a very sturdy dough that doesn’t mind being handled.
Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until the cookies are still slightly soft to the touch in the center. I prefer a softer gingerbread cookie, but if you like yours crunchy, then bake them a little longer.
Transfer the cookies to wire racks and allow them to completely cool before decorating.
While the cookies cool, prepare the Royal Icing. Transfer the royal icing to the piping bag fitted with the plain tip and let the fun begin. At Butter, we like to ice eyes and a big smile on our guys, then add a couple squeezes of icing to hold his buttons in place and finish his hands and feet off with a little more icing and a dip in some multicolored sprinkles. But hey, don’t let us tell you what to do. Just like those snowflakes that we hope are falling, no two guys have to be alike!