Gingerbread Cookie Dough

Make dough: In a large bowl, combine all-purpose flour, ground ginger, ground cloves, and salt, and set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, place unsalted butter, dark corn syrup, dark-brown sugar, and granulated sugar and cook until butter melts and sugars dissolve.

Add butter mixture to flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Divide dough in half and cover in plastic wrap; pat into 1/2-inch-thick squares. Chill until very firm, 4 hours or overnight.

Make cookies: Roll out dough on a well-floured surface to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out eight 4- by 6-inch rectangles. Working with 1 rectangle at a time (keep others in fridge), use a 2 1/2-inch-tall cookie cutter to punch out a gingerbread boy from center.

With a paring knife, cut 8 to 12 pieces from around gingerbread boy to create a puzzle, as shown.

Using a spatula, transfer pieces to a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Repeat with remaining rectangles.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove puzzles from refrigerator and use a knife to gently separate cutout pieces from one another (about 1/2 inch) so that they don’t fuse in the oven. Brush gingerbread boy lightly with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 12 minutes. Let cool completely.