My first attempt at gingerbread!

I have never made a true gingerbread house or even cookies for that matter. It seems like a huge pain in the buttocks if you ask me. However, my hubby had to go out of town on business and my little boy wanted to make gingerbread cookies to take to Daddy and his co-workers on his first day back at work. I lugged out my big, beautiful holiday cookbook and found several nice looking gingerbread recipes and off we went. I prepared the dough and let it hang out in the fridge overnight, then the next morning I rolled them and baked them. That way they would be fresh and yummy for everyone. Now although my son was at times a big help, I had to keep an eye on him like a hawk! He kept wanting to run his nose or lick his fingers, which the licking of the fingers thing isn't so bad if you are making the cookies to eat at home, but I figure the hubby's co-workers really don't need kid spit in their cookies (call me crazy)! I even had to throw away one entire portion of dough as the kiddo decided that he needed to sneeze all over it, UGH! He was relieved of his cookie cutting duties at that point and had to wait until decorating time. I wasn't really able to find a nice selection of candies for decorating, and I certainly was not about to pay $5 for a little thing of non-pareils, so we had to be satisfied with mini M&M's, Hershey Kissables, and red and green gumdrops. I made decorator frosting as well as the icing to pipe onto the cookies. This was my first attempt at ANY of that stuff. I'm not a frosting or icing kind of girl. In fact, as far as cookies go, I only make them if I can spoon them on the pan and be done with them! I applied all the frosting and icing and my son was in charge of candy and sprinkle application. And much to my surprise, they turned out cute, but most of all, the were REALLY tasty! The gingerbread was slightly crunchy on the outside, but beautifully soft on the inside and as much as I hate icing and frosting, when it is made from scratch, it is really quite tasty! So I guess we're hooked! I'm sure another batch will be made right before Christmas to share with family! Here are some photos of our little gingerbread masterpieces!