| 1 | In a saucepan combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. |
| 2 | Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. |
| 3 | Pour into large mixing bowl; cool 5 minutes. |
| 4 | Sift together flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and baking soda. |
| 5 | Add egg and vanilla to butter mixture; mix well. |
| 6 | Add flour mixture; beat til well mixed. |
| 7 | Divide dough in half, cover and chill 2 hours or overnight. |
| 8 | for each bear, shape dough into one 1-inch ball, one ?inch ball, six ?inch balls and one ?inch ball. |
| 9 | On ungreased cookie sheet flatten the 1-inch ball to ? thickness for body. |
| 10 | Attach the ?inch ball for head and flatten to ? thickness. |
| 11 | Attach the ?inch balls for arms, legs and ears. |
| 12 | Attach the ?inch ball for nose. |
| 13 | Bake at 350 °F for 8 to 10 minutes, cool and decorate. |
| 14 | i usually make these smaller than described here; about ?the size. |
| 15 | Also, the ears start to look like mouse ears if they"re not a little smaller than the arms and legs. |
| 16 | Roll the nose ball to make it more oval in shape and place it on the lower half of the bear"s face. |
| 17 | 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. |
| 18 | for easter, make these into bunnies. |
| 19 | Use only light corn syrup, no molasses. |
| 20 | Substitute white sugar for the brown sugar. |
| 21 | Omit spices and add a bit of almond extract if desired. |
| 22 | Make them the same way, but make two long ears on the top and two cheek-balls instead of the nose-ball. |
| 23 | Decorate with pastel icings. |
