Gingerbread Cookies

It's Christmas in August at our house today! My son has been playing Candyland the past few weeks with a vengeance and keeps talking about "Gingerbread Man boy" so we decided to indulge him a bit with real Gingerbread Man Boys! I first used this recipe for Christmas last year and they turned out nice, soft cookies. This batch was really good too. Along with the house smelling wonderful, we enjoyed making these with no Christmas rush or pressure interfering! So if you're up for some smells and tastes of Christmas, you gotta try these. Why wait till Christmas?

Gingerbread Cookies

Cookies:

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 egg

3 Tbs. molasses

1 tsp. vanilla

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

Frosting:

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 to 2 tbs. milk

Raisins for decorating, if desired. (We used colored sugar)

Combine first five ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low. Add all remaining cookie ingredients (except frosting). Beat until well mixed. Divide dough in half. Wrap in plastic food wrap. Refrigerate until firm, 1 to 2 hours.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface, one half at a time (keep other dough in the refrigerator) to a 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with 4 to 5 inch cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes or until set. Let stand 1 minute then remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.

Frosting: Combine confectioners' sugar, butter and vanilla in a small mixing bowl. Beat on low speed adding enough milk for desired consistency. Decorate cooled cookies as desired.

Makes 2 dozen 4 1/2 inch cookies.

Cookies decorated as my kids desired!

"Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap."
-Robert Fulghum

"A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand"

-unknown