Countdown to Christmas - Photo Challenge - Day 17:GINGERBREAD

Not being a fan of the Gingerbread cookies or ever having made a Gingerbread house, I have no photos of Gingerbread to accompany today's challenge.

I can, however, share my baking experience from last weekend...

The in-laws and I decided to plan a holiday goodie baking day.  We each brought recipes/ideas and ingredients to the table--literally.  The assembly line process worked well for those tedious, labor intensive items that required repeating the same steps over and over again, and the conversation and laughter made the day go by in a flash with a plethora of yummy treats we each took home by the end of the night.

The cut-out/sugar cookies part of the day was probably the most challenging in that we each had our own individual technique...from how much dough/flour to start with, how thin or thick to roll out the dough, how they were placed on the cookie sheet, to how long they were to be baked all varied with each one of us.  This was almost a too-many-cooks-in-the-kitchen-spoil-the-stew moment, but it all worked out; and when the cookies had cooled, the kids had a great time decorating with frosting, sprinkles, and colorful decorations and then eating several of their creations.

All in all, I would have to say our family baking day was quite a success, and I look forward to making it an annual tradition.  Maybe someday I'll have to try gingerbread since while I was looking through Mom's recipe file, I came across the following vintage recipe card:

 I think the actual cookie cutter that accompanied this little man is long gone, but I'm sure I could make do with a substitute.

I did see a pretty hilarious image on Facebook the other day of a Redneck Gingerbread house...it was in the shape of mobile home!