Gingerbread Christmas

I haven’t done this in a while, but when my daughter was young, it was fun to use this gingerbread recipe I found in my Betty Crocker’s Cookbook. I used the recipe for Gingerbread People. This makes a very pliable, workable dough. After you cut out whatever shapes you want, you can roll the scraps together and cut out more. We have used this dough to make lots of little gingerbread men, stars and other shapes, and also to make a gingerbread house (pictured above).

To make the house, I had found a book in the library that contained patternes that I traced onto paper and usd those patterns to cut the shapes out of the dough. We still had to trim it a bit when the bread came out of the oven to make them all fit together. Icing sugar was used as the "mortar" to hold the house together.

GINGERBREAD PEOPLE

1 ½ cups dark molasses

1 cup packed brown sugar

2/3 cup cold water

1/3 cup shortening

7 cups all-purpose flour*

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground allspice

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix molasses, brown sugar, water and shortening.

Mix in remaining ingredients except frosting.

Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Heat oven to 350°. Roll dough ¼ inch thick on

floured board. Cut with floured gingerbread cutter

or other favorite shaped cutter. Place about 2 inches

apart on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake until no

indentation remains when touched, 10 to 12 minutes;

cool. Decorate with Decorators' Frosting (I just buy the ready-made stuff in a tube).

ABOUT 2 ½ DOZEN 2½ INCH COOKIES.

*If using self-rising flour, omit baking soda and salt.

Gingerbread Cookies:

Decrease flour to 6 cups.

Roll dough ½ inch thick and cut with floured 2½

inch round cutter. Place about 1½ inches apart

on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake about 15

minutes.

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