Gingerbread Ornaments

For Christmas, I really like to have a bit of fun with name tags for the gifts I make (or buy). This year I wanted to go for something different... so I made some Gingerbread ornaments. It was super easy, and I was surprised at the number of ornaments the recipe made! I did mostly stars, but made a few gingerbread men for the young kiddos. After making them, I used paint to decorate them. I think fabric paint... you know, the goopy stuff, would look more like icing... but then it may be harder to convince people that they are not edible. Because they are not. They bake solid. And they smell great! I put all the extras on my tree... mmmmm.

Here's the recipe... I got it from the "Make Stuff" site. There is more than one recipe to choose from, and I picked this one due to time.

Gingerbread Ornaments

Ingredients

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup cold water
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp each of ground allspice, cloves, and cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt


Mix sugar, shortening, molasses and water in a large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours (or overnight). Heat oven to 350F. Spray the pan, shape or cut your ornaments. Bake 12 minutes or until the edges are lightly brown. Immediately loosen from the pan but don't remove for another 5 minutes. Then remove to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before decorating.