Decorating

I love the smell of Christmas!  Love the sweet smells of cinnamon and ginger coming from the oven.  I love opening the Christmas boxes and unwrapping our gingerbread houses from years past.  Every year I put gingerbread men on a tiny tree in our back hallway.  When I unwrapped them this year....they just didn't smell as fragrant....so I decided it was time to make some new gingerbread men to dress our tree!  Normally... I just make them red and white...but loved  this idea from sweetopia...another of my favorite blogs!  So I added some green sanding sugar to make the bows!!

This year I used Sweetopia's recipe for gingerbread.  In the past I have used Martha's....but I must say....Sweetopia's  may be my new favorite.  This gingerbread smelled and tasted wonderful!  Here Marian's recipe.  Be sure to check here.... for her DARLING nutcrackers made from this gingerbread!

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe

For the printer-friendly version, click here.

Ingredients:

800 g all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

250 g unsalted butter

1 cup packed dark-brown sugar

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoons ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup molasses

*

Instructions:

1.     In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix butter and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy.

2.     Mix in spices first, then eggs and molasses. Reduce speed to low.

3.     Sift together flour, salt and baking powder and add to bowl; mix until just combined.

4.     Wrap dough in a disc shape in saran wrap. Let it rest by refrigerating until cold, about 1 hour.

5.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface or between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1/4-inch thick.

6.     Cut shapes out with cookie cutters and place them approximately 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

7.     Refrigerate until firm; at least 15 minutes to 1 hour.

8.     Bake cookies until lightly golden; 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Here is the tiny little tree...

Love how sweet it smells when I walk by!

Love how this tiny little space makes me smile....especially the pictures of my now BIG princess and my sweet Willie.

Can't wait to share some more Christmas goodies with all of you!