Gingerbread Cookies

recipe from my Mom

Merry Christmas!  These little gingerbread cookies are fun for kids to make and eat and your house will smell amazing while they are baking.  (My toddler was asleep while I was making these, or these might have turned out more like scary Halloween cookies rather than cute little Christmas gingerbread people! :)  It can be quite a project to make the cookies and frost all in one day, so you may want to make the cookies and then freeze them until you are ready to decorate. It makes them a little less time intensive.

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

Combine butter, brown sugar, molasses and egg and beat until fluffy.  Add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and allspice and beat until blended.  Cover dough and refrigerate for 1-2 hours. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness and then cut into desired shapes. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  

I used this glace icing to decorate the cookies. There is also an awesome tutorial on decorating cookies with this icing technique at Our Best Bites.