gingerbread cookies for Santa

Pin It Today we made gingerbread men for Santa. The kids had so much fun and so did I. Kirsten helped me make the cookies and then both the kids had a blast decorating them. I'll also share the recipe I use for gingerbread cookies. It's fantastic - soft, chewy and delicious. Here's some pictures of our day today:

Kirsten "helping" me make cookies by using the cookie cutters as glasses:



The table all set up waiting for the kids to go decorating crazy:



There's some serious decorating going on here (and a lot of sampling too - especially by my little Cam!):













I decorated some cookies for the reindeer, because they get hungry too you know:



Santa is going to love his cookies tomorrow night!



Here's the recipe I use:

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
1 egg
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Stir in molasses and egg.
Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; blend into the molasses mixture until smooth.
Cover, and chill for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.
Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. Let cool for 10 minutes on pan. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.
Frost or decorate when cool.

Recipe adapted from Sing for your Supper Pin It