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1
In a small saucepan, cook the butter, brown sugar and molasses over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Pour into a large bowl; let stand for 10 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and cloves; gradually add to butter mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.
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2
For big bears, shape dough into eight 1-1/4-in. balls, eight 1-in. balls, sixteen 1/4-in. balls, sixteen 1-3/4x1/2-in. logs and sixteen 1-1/2x1/2-in. logs. Set remaining dough aside.
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3
For bodies, place the 1-1/4-in. balls on 3 ungreased
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4
; flatten to 1/2-in. thickness. Position the 1-in. balls for heads; flatten to 1/2-in. thickness. Attach two 1-3/4-in. logs for arms and 1/4-in. balls for ears. Do not attach 1-1/2-in. logs for legs; place separately on
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5
.
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6
For small bears, shape the remaining dough into eight 1-in. balls, eight 3/4-in. balls, sixteen 1/4-in. balls, sixteen 1-1/4x3/8-in. logs and sixteen 1x3/8-in. logs. Position bears and logs on two ungreased
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7
as for the big bears.
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8
Bake small bears and logs at 325u00b0 for 11-13 minutes, and big bears and logs until set, 14-16 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before carefully removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
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9
In a small bowl, combine frosting ingredients. For sleds, use frosting to attach two candy canes to the bottom of each graham cracker; let stand until set.
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10
Trim bear bodies so the bottom edge is flat. Using frosting, attach a big bear to the back end of each sled. Attach small bears in front of big bears. For legs, attach big logs in front of bears and small logs on top. For muzzles and ears, color a small amount of frosting light tan. Pipe muzzles and ears; add hearts to muzzle for noses. Attach nonpareils for eyes with frosting.
