The Gingerbread Man
Synopsis
A story told for many years to many different families.
Gingerbread
This is a story that somebody's great-great-grandmother told a little girl ever so many years ago:
There was once a little old man and a little old woman, who lived in a little old house at the edge of a woods. They'd have been a very happy old couple but for one thing -- they had no small child and they yearned-for one very much. One day, when the little old woman was baking hot gingerbread, she cut a cake in the shape of a little boy, and put it into the oven.
Before long she went to the oven to see if it was baked. As soon as the oven door was opened up, the little gingerbread boy leapt out, and began to run away as fast as he could go.
He jumps from her oven and takes to the woods. The woman and her husband chase after him but fail to capture him. The gingerbread boy then outruns a lot of farm workers and farm animals while teasing them with the phrase:
I have run away from a little old woman,
A little old man,
And I can run away from you, I can!
In some retellings, The Gingerbread Boy taunts his pursuers with:
Run, run as fast as you can;
You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man.
Gingerbread Man Cookies
Ingredients
1 (3.5 ounce) package cook and serve butterscotch pudding mix
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions
In a medium bowl, cream together the dry butterscotch pudding mix, butter, and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon; stir into the pudding mixture. Cover and chill dough until firm, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease baking sheets. On a floured board, roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thickness, and cut into man shapes using a cookie cutter. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are golden at the edges. Cool on wire racks.