Spiced Ginger Cookies

I've been feeling especially festive lately, and last night's Bedlam win to OU really put this Pokes fan in the baking spirit.  I wanted to make gingerbread men wearing football helmets, but I didn't have any molasses and, living in Stillwater, it just wasn't a safe idea to get out driving around right after the football game to buy molasses.
I decided to make a couple of substitutions to the gingerbread recipe and make do with what I had, and instead ended up with more of a gingery spice cookie that spreads a bit when baking so it's not as well adapted to cutouts as gingerbread is.  It's delicious and festive, though, and with a standard cookie icing as decoration, it's the perfect combination of sweet and spicy.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 large egg yolk
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground clove
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Cream butter and sugar together in large glass bowl til fluffy.  Mix in egg yolk and corn syrup until smooth.  In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, clove, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and baking soda.  Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture until dough is formed.  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 and coat hands in flour.  Roll dough by teaspoonful and press into a disc about 2 inches in diameter.  Spread far apart on baking sheet, 6-8 per sheet, as they will spread thin. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool completely before decorating.
I used a mixture of just water and confectioner's sugar for the icing because I was out of milk.  Starting with a cup of powdered sugar, slowly dribble very small amounts of water in, mixing thoroughly with a fork before adding more, until you reach the desired consistency.  I used about 3/4 tsp water for my cup of sugar.  It was somewhat thick but made for perfect snowflake piping.

These cookies were even better this morning, after they'd sat overnight, so I think they're a great cookie jar cookie.  And adding the OSU logo makes them all the better this year!  Go Pokes!