Gingerbread

2/3 c Brown sugar

2/3 c Corn syrup and/or molasses

4 c Flour

1 1/2 ts Cinnamon

1 ts Ginger

1/2 ts Ground cloves

3/4 ts Baking soda

1 Egg; lightly beaten

1 1/2 ts Vanilla extract

In a saucepan combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Pour into large mixing bowl; cool 5 minutes. Sift together flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and baking soda.

2 hours or overnight. For each bear, shape dough into one 1-inch ball, one 3/4-inch ball, six 1/2-inch balls and one 1/4-inch ball. On ungreased cookie sheet flatten the 1-inch ball to

1/2" thickness for body. Attach the 3/4-inch ball for head and flatten to

1/2" thickness. Attach the 1/2-inch balls for arms, legs and ears. Attach the 1/4-inch ball for nose. Bake at

350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, cool and decorate. I usually make these smaller than described here; about 1/2 the size. Also, the ears start to look like MOUSE ears if they're not a little smaller than the arms and legs. Roll the nose ball to make it more oval in shape and place it on the LOWER half of the bear's face. These can be decorated with any icing-- I use tinted Royal icing made from meringue powder to add eyes, nose and bow tie to each bear. For Easter, make these into bunnies. Use only light corn syrup, no molasses. Substitute white sugar for the brown sugar. Omit spices and add a bit of almond extract if desired. Make them the same way, but make two long ears on the top and two cheek-balls instead of the nose-ball. Decorate with pastel icings. Karen Mintzias TCVC