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Make and decorate gingerbread cookies with the kids to create fun holiday memories! Then let them select a special Hallmark ornament to place on the tree each year!
My kids and I can't wait for December to arrive so we can get started with our many wonderful Christmas time traditions. Among many other things, we always do an advent calendar, decorate graham cracker houses, make goodie plates to give to neighbors and friends, go see beautiful lights around our city and of course watch lots of festive movies and listen to Christmas music.
But one of my kids' most treasured holiday activities is making and decorating cookies together. Sometimes it's sugar cookies cut out in pretty candy cane, Santa Clause, and tree shapes that we frost with yummy vanilla buttercream icing and embellish with brightly colored candies. But this year, after we headed out to Walmart and selected our special new ornaments, a tradition we also love, I was inspired by our adorable Hallmark Gingerbread House Ornament, to make Gingerbread Cookies!
I found a great selection of Hallmark ornaments on an aisle end cap in the seasonal section at Walmart.
This Hallmark gingerbread house ornament was so perfect for our family this year, since we just moved into a new home a few months ago! Now we'll relive this special event every year when we decorate the tree.
We also picked up a pretty gingerbread house Hallmark card which we'll send to someone special very soon. My three year old daughter had her eye on the sparkly Sleeping Beauty Hallmark ornament, since she's obsessed with all things Disney Princess right now, so I let her add it to our cart. :)
In keeping with our fun gingerbread theme, the kids and I headed home and baked up some delicious Gingerbread cookies cut out in the shape of adorable little men!
The kids sat on the counter and helped me measure the ingredients, then were right there to help roll out the dough and cut out the shapes after it had chilled in the refrigerator. We made sure the little guys didn't run off after we removed them from the oven. My littlest ones were concerned after reading The Gingerbread Man story. :)
{GINGERBREAD COOKIES}
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. butter, softened
1 c. molasses
1/2 c. hot water
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ginger
5-7 cups of white flour
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine sugar, butter, molasses and hot water. Add eggs and mix until combined. Stir together the dry ingredients (baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger and flour) in a separate bowl, then add to wet ingredients. Mix until combined. Refrigerate dough over night. Roll out (not too thin) on a little bit of flour or cooking spray and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes, but don't overbake.
I only needed to add five cups of flour to my dough, and it was perfect. However, this could be because of my high elevation, so judge by the stickiness of the dough and not how much flour you've added. I also only cooked mine for 6-7 minutes, also possibly due to my elevation. You want them to look done, but not be browning on the edges too much or they won't be soft and flavorful.
Store in an air tight container until ready to decorate. These cookies freeze well.
{VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING}
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Milk (add by the tablespoon until frosting is nice and creamy but not runny)
Add all ingredients to the bowl of an electric mixer and mix until creamy.
Decorate cookies with frosting and candy and enjoy!
We can't wait to put up our tree and place our new ornaments on it. We're holding off until the first snowfall that sticks here in the mountains and we're hoping it happens sooner rather than later! :)
Making and decorating gingerbread cookies is such a fun tradition to start with kids. Now we can share these yummy cookies with neighbors and friends!
What are your favorite holiday traditions with your kids?