Dancing Gingerbread Men

The day was spend making gingerbread men as part of my gift for colleagues at work. I have a recipe I've been using for the past few years,that people like, yet it's sticky and not as 'spicy' a cookie as I like. Here the adventure begins. I began by infusing the butter, spices and molasses with real ginger while they melted. That worked pretty well-I'd go with fine grated ginger next batch for even more flavor. Then I cut back the butter and included tapioca flour as one portion of the flour this year to make it easier to digest and a lighter cookie. That worked too. Here was the ultimate challenge I've had each year-it's really a sticky batter. I put it between parchment and plastic, put it with tapioca flour to dust, dipped the cutter before making the cookie-nothing was working! Corn meal works for pizza dough, and I love the molasses corn meal combo in Indian pudding-why not? Well I'm here to say it was perfect. It mixed into the batter easily, absorbed the extra moisture and to dust with it was a breeze because it dusted off easily when you put the cookie on.
The final touch...I wanted them to dance. So they did :) Some had bent legs,some raised hands, some were even clapping-in the end, the men were having a good time and so was I. Decorated with caramel boots outlined with chocolate,buttons of white chocolate cream cheese frosting and faces of dark chocolate~Happy Holiday wishes are on the way.
For the recipe, check back to the Bucks County Chocolate Show website tonight-recipes with chocolate tab. Have a good day