gingerbread men

gingerbread cookies

today, dinah and i invited friends over for a little holiday baking. three wild preschoolers, two babies, and three frazzled mamas shoved into a hot kitchen baking and decorating christmas cookies together makes a for a chaotic, but pretty fun holiday experience. it was even cloudy out, which made it feel even more like it's christmastime. the tree was lit, the christmas music was playing, and the kids, as they should be this time of year, were completely out of control.

kids in the kitchen

as i mixed the ingredients together in my trusty kitchenaid, several times, i had to shoo away three sets of sticky grabby hands: "get those fingers outa here! quit eating the dough!" with what little dough we had left, we were able to roll it out on the countertop and cut out stars and gingerbread men. the men definitely weren't pretty. most were missing a limb, if not their entire head, but, nonetheless, they made it onto the baking sheet and into the oven. 

meanwhile, we whipped up some healthy frosting ('cuz lord knows these kids don't need any more sugar...) and set up the decorating station. according to the kids' big smiles, this was was best part. not sure how much frosting or toppings actually made it onto the cookies instead of being shoved into little mouths, but the cookies were decorated and finished. ahhh, yes. messy perfection.

messy perfection

gingerbread men

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg

in a medium sized bowl, mix together dry ingredients. set aside. in a mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar, molasses, egg, and vanilla. add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. on a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to about a 1/4 inch thick, and cut shapes. bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees on an ungreased cookie sheet.

honey icing

1 cup coconut butter
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp almond extract

whisk all ingredients until fluffy.