It's begining to look like Gingerbread!

Making Gingerbread Cookies

The simple recipe we used...

1/2 c margarine

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c molasses

1 egg yolk

2 cups sifted all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until smooth. Stir in molasses and egg yolk. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Blend into the molasses until smooth. Cover and chill for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. Frost or decorate when cool.

Makes 30 cookies.

I love the smell of gingerbread and I especially love cookies. It's hard for me to pass up the Holiday Season without making a batch of gingerbread cookies. Having so many cooks in the kitchen this year, a batch of gingerbread was all we had time for. We had a pretty comical experience making this batch and consumed most of it at the end of the evening that only a few made it to Santa's plate. The kids had a blast making their own cookies. Emily loved trying the dough. It's definately a tradition we will carry on!

Decorating the Gingerbread House

Isn't decorating a gingerbread house so much fun? It's really hard for me to keep my hands off too but it's really fun to watch the kids. My oldest at 5 really got into decorating this year. He had a plan and knew what he wanted on the house and where. My 3 year old just wanted to sample all the candies and Emily only knew marshmellows were for eating from all the hot cocoa we had this winter. She was constantly pulling off the marshmellows and eating them. She did put a few candies on the house and sat as long as the boys, doing this activity. She's funny and everytime she touched the frosting she wanted to wipe her hands on the wet paper towel. "Towel, mom," she says.

Emily is saying..."cheese".

Emily is reaching for a marshmellow. She would hold each up and say

"Eat, mom".