In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, and then the molasses. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Divide the dough into 2 halves. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. On a well-floured surface, roll out half of the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut shapes with assorted-sized gingerbread cookie cutters; transfer to ungreased baking sheets. Re-roll the scraps and cut more cookies. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 13 minutes. Transfer the cookies to racks to cool completely. Decorate with Royal Icing and cinnamon candies.
Notes
*If you wish to decorate the men as pictured, you've got to have a bit of a steady hand. Scoop the icing into a pastry bag (or zip bag) and use a small round tip. Pipe carefully, all the way around the edges. Pipe three little smudges in the middle & drop the cinnamon candies on top.
*Let these sit at room temperature until the icing has hardened (overnight is good).
*Nutritional information does not include decorations on top. 30 cookies is an estimate- number will vary based on the size of the cutters that are used.
*These freeze just fine- layer them between sheets of waxed paper and store in airtight container.