To prepare the frosting, place the softened butter in a large mixing bowl. Add cocoa, confectioner’s sugar, and vanilla, and blend until the mixture is fully mixed. Add the milk, 1 tablespoonful at a time, and continue beating the frosting. When the frosting looks glossy and forms soft peaks, it’s ready to use.

Frost the brownies in their foil cups. Garnish with pecan halves, or the garnish of your choice. Serve.

Other options for garnishes include everything from mini- chocolate chips to a sprinkle of coconut to a fan of candy corn-cute in the fall-to white chocolate curls to chocolate-covered coffee beans to peanut butter cups to peppermint patties to other chocolates. Tailor your garnish to your anticipated diners. If you’re feeding mostly adults, go for sophistication. If you’re feeding lots of kids, raid the candy store. The pecan halves are a compromise-both adults and kids like them, and the people who don’t like nuts can easily remove them. But the sky’s the limit as far as garnishing these goes.

GINGERBREAD MEN

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

1 pinch ground pepper (optional, but it gives the cookies a little bite)

Scant 1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup butter, softened

½ cup brown sugar, well packed

¼ cup white sugar

1 large egg

½ cup molasses

Raisins (optional)

ROYAL ICING

2 tablespoons meringue powder

Fresh lemon juice from 1 lemon

Roughly 2 cups sifted powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the softened butter, then add the sugars, and cream at medium speed until smooth and fluffy. Add in egg and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add in flour. Batter will be stiff. Divide batter into workable batches (I usually divide it in thirds), wrap each batch tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Pull the first batch of dough from the refrigerator. Roll out on a floured board until dough ¼- to ⅛-inch thick. I aim for a roll of dough about 8 inches wide. That makes cutting out 8-inch gingerbread men really easy. I then cut out gingerbread men freehand from the dough using a very sharp paring knife. Luckily, a gingerbread man is easy to draw, even for the artistically challenged. You can also use cookie cutters, if you have them. Remove the dough that isn’t part of the cookies, then gently lift the gingerbread men with a long spatula, and place them on ungreased cookie sheets. If desired, add raisins for eyes and mouth. Otherwise, these can be piped on after baking. Continue rolling out gingerbread men until all cookies are shaped. The unused dough can be kneaded together and rolled out at the end. If you plan to hang these cookies as decorations, be sure to cut a large hole where you want to insert the hanging ribbon. I find a sturdy drinking straw is the perfect tool to get a nice-sized hole, but canapé cutters or a toothpick can function equally well.

Bake cookies until gently browned on bottom, about 8-12 minutes. Remove from oven. Let cool for 5 minutes. (This makes the cookie stronger and less prone to breakage.) Remove gently from cookie sheets with a long spatula, and set on a wire rack to cool.

To prepare royal icing, mix the meringue powder with the lemon juice in the bowl of an electric mixer. Gradually add the powdered sugar. Stop adding sugar when the mixture holds stiff peaks and is of good piping consistency.

Load icing into large piping bag fitted with a small circular tip. Pipe clothes and features on the finished cookies. Lay the cookies out flat for the icing to dry. Once they are very, very dry, serve them, or store the finished cookies packed in a tin in layers separated by waxed or parchment paper.

The better the spices, the better the cookies. I get my spices online at The Spice House, which has outlets in Milwaukee and Chicago, as well as an excellent mail-order site at www. thespicehouse.com. I’ve found the spices I get there are simply the best available.

Piped royal icing makes for beautiful cookies. But kids much prefer these iced with buttercream icing and decorated with chocolate chips for the eyes, nose, mouth, and buttons. That’s also faster. But since these cookies are wearing their party clothes, I’m giving the royal icing version here.

Julie Hyzy