Baking Experiments: Gingerbread Men

I had taken more than a week off to clear my annual leave and since I was accidentally so broke in November & December, I could not plan a trip anywhere. So I started thinking of things to accomplish during my leave (so that it isn't a total waste) and one of them was to bake something.
I attempted to make salted caramel chocolate tarts but I only completed the tart shells so far - hopefully I'll be able to make the fillings soon!

So after mulling on the fact that it was Christmas season and I would like to give a small gift to the people who matter (and taking into consideration that I was broke), I decided to try baking gingerbread men cookies. The recipe looked fairly simple and I had almost all the ingredients. I used a recipe from BBC Food and swapped golden syrup with molasses. I didn't have cinnamon powder, so I didn't add that in as well.

I don't have a food processor, so I used the rubbing method to mix the butter and flour. The raw dough looked quite dark after adding the molasses, but after baking the cookies they were the right shade of brown to contrast the white royal icing. Every time I open the container storing the cookies, my dogs will line up for a bite! The aroma of freshly baked cookies is enhanced by the molasses.

The recipe yielded around 13 big gingerbread men, 3 small ones and some small triangles with the balance dough. Verdict: success and this is definitely a repeatable project!

Gingerbread men after decorating