Decorating Gingerbread Men!

This project table was "finger lick'in" good! Girl Scout Leader, Teri, made the cookies the morning of the troop meeting, so the girls would be set to dress them. Each girl scout had access to a variety of colored icing, sprinkles, and candy decoration.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe~

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg

1 TBS vinegar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a mixing bowl, beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until combined, scraping bowl. Beat in molasses, egg, and vinegar until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with your mixer; then stir in remaining flour by hand. Wrap dough in wax paper, folding ends secure. Chill for 3 hours or until easy to handle. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheet; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into cookie using a 5" - 7 1/2" cookie cutter. (I used a copper one I bought from WalMart). Place 1" apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake 5 " cookies for 6-8 minutes, 8 " cookies for 10-12 minutes. Let cool before decorating.

To decorate~ Our Girl Scout troop used all pre-made icing bought at the store, but if you want to make your own, here is a basic icing recipe:

Icing Recipe~

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 teaspoons milk

2 teaspoons corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon vanilla flavoring (almond flavoring is also good)

Stir sugar and milk together in a bowl until icing mixture is smooth; beat in corn syrup and vanilla until icing mixture is smooth and glossy in appearance. Add food coloring to desired shade. To thicken add confectioner's sugar to desired thickness. To achieve a piping effect, use a cake decorating bag. Ice cookie and set aside for the icing to harden. Enjoy!