Gingerbread Men

Grandma’s Chocolate Gingerbread Men

3½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
¾ cup cocoa powder, sifted
1½ tablespoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 cup molasses
1/8 cup raisins, for garnish (optional)
1/8 cup red-hot candies, for garnish (optional)
1 cup vanilla icing
Position racks in the top & bottom thirds of the oven, then preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease several large baking sheets and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking pow- der & cloves until spices & coca are evenly distributed, then set aside.
In a 2nd large bowl, cream shortening & brown sugar until fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in egg & then the molas- ses. Turn off mixer & add flour mixture, then slowly combine, just until crumbly bits of dough form, but not until the mass begins to cohere into a ball.
Lightly flour a clean, dry work surface as well as your hands. Turn dough out & knead just until it forms a smooth mass, about 30 seconds. Divide into thirds & cover them with a clean kitchen towel.
Lightly dust the work surface again & roll one of the thirds to a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Flour the dough & a rolling pin only as necessary. Use a gingerbread-man cookie cutter to cut the dough into the desired shapes, then carefully transfer to the prepared baking sheet(s).
Gather any scraps, lightly dust again with flour & roll out a 2nd time, creating additional gingerbread men. Decorate the cookies with the raisins & red hots, if desired, or decorate with the icing after they cool.
Bake for 4 minutes, then rotate sheets top to bottom & front to back. Bake another 4 minutes, or until cookies feel dry but still are a little soft. Remove from oven & cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before transferring the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.