Ginger Bread Cookies

Yesterday was one of those Saturdays that only seems to happen every great once in a while - no commitments, no plans, and lots of energy. Plus the fact that Christmas is just a few weeks away made the day seem so full of potential. Naturally, this means shopping, watching Christmas movies, and of course, baking! The shopping took care of itself and then I put on While You Were Sleeping (Yes, Christmas movie) and started mixing up these Ginger Bread Cookies.

Oh.

My.

Did they turn out well...

The perfect balance of sweet and spice, crunchy and soft.

I used the recipe from King Arthur Flour which you can find here. I rolled the dough out to about 1/8 of an inch and found that the perfect baking time for the trees and ginger bread men was 9 minutes at 350 degrees. I probably should have decreased that just a little for the snowflakes because they were a little crispier than I like them (still awesome though). Half of the dough from the full recipe made 2 1/2 dozen.

For the icing, I used a very basic recipe that was a mixture of powdered sugar, a little milk and vanilla.

Have fun making them. Eat too many. And then share what's left over with friends at coffee shops.

Enjoy!