Traditional Christmas Gingerbread Cookies

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Hi, Everyone! Today I want to share one of my favorite Christmas traditions with you - traditional Czech gingerbread cookies! I look forward to baking these cookies every year, because it brings back sweet memories of making them with my mom and my grandparents every year, and because it fills the house with the most wonderful, warm, gingerbread aroma! Once these cookies are baked, decorated and sitting on the dining table, the Christmas season can officially begin! Personally, I only use these cookies for decoration but you could definitely eat them. Here are some pictures of my Christmas 2012 gingerbread cookies!

TRADITIONAL CHRISTMASGINGERBREAD COOKIES
YOU WILL NEED:Cookies:325g all-purpose flour125g powdered sugar50g honey2 tbs unsalted butter, softened1 tsp baking soda2 eggs1/2 tbs ground cinnamon1/2 tsp anise
Icing:2 egg whites2 cups powdered sugar


DIRECTIONS:
1. In your electric mixer bowl, combine flour, baking soda and cinnamon. In another bowl, cream together butter, eggs, sugar, honey and anise.
2. While mixing, slowly add the wet mixture to the dry until a firm dough forms. I like this dough because it's not greasy at all. Form it into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
3. Once chilled, divide the dough into two, and roll each half our on a floured surface (into about a sugar cookie dough thickness, the cookies will puff up quite a bit while baking!) and cut your shapes out. Preheat your oven to 350 deg F (180 deg C)
4. Place your cut out shapes onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and bake for about 7 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool completely before icing.
5. To make your icing, whisk 2 egg whites until stiff white peaks form, then slowly begin adding the sugar. Spoon that mixture into your piping bags, and decorate your cookies! This icing is great as it dries hard, just make sure you give it enough time to dry!











I hope you have lots of wonderful Christmas traditions that you look forward to every year too!Happy Baking, Everyone!
I will be linking to:Mangia Mondays at Delightfully Dowling, Makin' You Crave Mondays, Skip to My Lou, The Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Tatertots and Jello, Six Sisters' Stuff, Taylor House Thursday, and Be Different, Act Normal.