'tis the season

All this weekend I baked Christmas cookies and fudge to send  my godfather who is currently stationed in Iraq. I discovered the most AMAZING thing. Nestle toll house gingerbread dough in a giant tub! The flavor is excellent and quickly transform into beautiful gift with a little effort. For those of you who are cookie-deficient, I'll outline the process. Take about 1/4th of the dough from the tub and roll it out (1/4th inch thick)with a little flour. Make sure you put the not-used dough back in the fridge. This stuff gets sticky quick! The colder your dough the easier it will be to work with the cookie cutters and shapes! I like to stray away from the traditional gingerbread man and make things interesting (ex. sheep, elephant, pig, moose, scottie dog cookies). Place all your shapes about 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet and bake for 8 min on 350 to get them to a perfect crunch. Nothing is worse than a squishy gingerbread man. Once they cool I outline the fun shapes with some fluffy white icing stuffed into a ziploc with a corner cut out to make a neat, thin line. These make great gifts wrapped in plastic or placed inside a tin.

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