Twelve Days of Christmas Goodies ~ Day 3: Gingerbread Boys and Girls

We had so much fun making these traditional gingerbread boys and girls last weekend! I made the cookies and then we set up a little assembly line to decorate. My 8 year old daughter coated each gingerbread boy and girl with a white buttercream icing, my 15 year old son drew faces and other designs on them using red and blue decorative fondant writers, and my 11 year old added some candies to each one. They looked terrific! I wish I had taken a quick picture because they didn't last long. We'll definitely be making these ones again.

And an extra bonus with these cookies? They are made with Splenda, so only 12 carbs per cookie (pre decorated)!

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp ginger

1-1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup shortening

2 eggs

2 tbsp molasses

2 tbsp milk

2/3 cup Splenda®, Granular

Procedure

Mix together flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat shortening with mixer until creamy. Add eggs, molasses and milk and beat 1 minute. Blend in SPLENDA®. Gradually add flour mixture until blended. (If necessary blend in 1/4 cup (50 mL) flour by hand for form stiff dough). Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Divide dough in half. Between sheets of waxed paper, roll out each half to 1/8' thickness. Remove waxed paper and cut dough out with a gingerbread man cutter. Place on lightly greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350ºF for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned and firm to touch. Cool on rack. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Makes 20 cookies.

Nutritional Information (per cookie). Calories 123, Fat 7g, Carbohydrates 12g, Protein 2g.