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> Christmas Fun is incomplete without cookies and Ginger-bread cookies remind me of one fairy-tale. Remember Hansel and Gretel and the witch , whose house was made of ginger-bread cookies, candies ,chocolates and ice-cream in woods. 😀

These fascinating cookies could lead you to infinite designs and decorations . With kids at home it is really fun to make these cookies and see them happy with your work.

I followed an easiest way out to make these cookies with Gingerbread flour (store bought). You will just need butter and flaxseed cubes or egg to make these crispy brown cookies and then decorate them with your favourite cookie icing (store-bought) or home-made.
So lets begin some fun with kids 😀 >

INGREDIENTS:
1. Ginger-bread cookie mix – 1 packet 16 oz.
2. Unsalted or salted butter – ¹⁄₂ cup or 1 stick( at room temperature melted)
3. Flaxseed Gel cubes – 1
Or
3. Egg – 1

From Scratch :
1. Plain flour- 2 ¼ cup
2. Finely grated ginger- 1 tablespoon
3. Cinnamon -1 teaspoon
4. Brown sugar- ¾ cup
5. Baking soda – ¹⁄₂ teaspoon
6. Butter ( melted, at room temperature) – ³⁄₄ cup
7. Honey- ¼ cup

For Icing :
1. store bought red,green ,white cookie icing
2. toothpick
Or
1. Butter- ¹⁄₄ cup or ¹⁄₂ stick
2. Confectioner’s powdered sugar – 2 tbsp
3. Color of your choice – 2-3 drops

METHOD:
| Preparation time : 5 mins | Baking time : 10-12 mins | Makes 30 medium size cookies|

1. Take the butter out from the refrigerator and bring it to the room temperature such that is soft to touch but not melted. I have used here flax-seed gel cubes at room temperature. You may use Ener-G egg replacer or 3 tbsp flax-seed(Alsi) powder too in its place. Please follow this link to know how to make flax-seed cubes : How to make and store flax-seed cubes
   

2. If you are making from the scratch, sieve all the dry ingredients through a colander in a bowl viz. baking soda, all purpose flour, cinnamon, dry ginger powder etc. Then add the sugar and mix all well. Lastly add the flax-seed cubes and butter and bring together all the mixture to form a soft brown dough.
   

3. Don’t knead this dough. Preheat the oven to 375 degree F. Start making large round balls from the dough. I made almost 3 big balls (size of cricket ball).
   

4. You may use cookie cutters kitchen scissors to shape the cookie .Dust the counter-top with dry flour and then roll the ball in a big circle almost ¹⁄₄ inch thick and even on all sides.
   

5. Cut out the preferred shapes and designs with cutters. You may refrigerate the dough in fridge(for 3-4 hrs) before working on it so that it gets firm and you don’t get brittle edges or unshaped pieces.
   

6. Place the ginger-bread man cookies on baking tray some distance apart and bake them for 10-12 mins or until edges turn brown. Keep a watch on them as they turn brown faster if they are rolled thinner than the said thickness. Also once the oven is pre-heated well, they take less time consecutively in the next batch.
   

7. Take them out of the oven when you see that their edges have darkened and they have grown in size.
   

8. Let them cool for 10-15 mins and then pick them up from the tray and keep them in separate plate for decorating.

9. For decorating ,you may use melted white chocolate or white home-made icing or store-bought frosting. But make sure that the cookies are cooled from inside too before you start decorating them. Else the icing will melt and flow like river from their tops. 😛 It took me 30-45 mins to cool them to room temperature. You may cool them by keeping under a blowing fan too.

1. You may use a tooth-pick for making zigzag design or spiral design in the cookies.
   

As you can see I have tried to recreate the scene of “Hansel ” and “Gretel” standing near the Ginger-bread HOuse of Witch Grieselda.

1. Let them dry for 2-3 hrs or overnight untouched and unmoved after decorating . I know with my daughter around it was difficult for me to keep them safe . 😀 😛
   

Yummy Holiday Cookies are ready to enjoy!! It’s a fun to make them with your family and kids !!
Happy Holidays !! 😀