Happy December!

I want to give a big “thank you” to you, my readers, for coming back to visit so often. My November had more pageviews than any month so far, which also means that my readership has increased every month since I started to blog last Spring. I really appreciate you reading, commenting, or emailing. Connecting with readers is so fun, and growing readership means I’m going in the right direction.

Odd blog stats:

After Texas, the states that come to my site most are California, New York, and Washington State. If you are in Washington, say hi. I don’t know anyone there!

Now you can go over to my giveaway and leave a comment to win the coupons and kitchen tools I put together. It’s how bloggers say thank you!

Homemade Gingerbread

(by Simply Recipes)

This whole post is as festive as it gets. It’s all about gingerbread. I scoured the internet and cookbooks to find a basic gingerbread recipe with icing. I didn’t want to try a healthified one, I wanted to make the real thing from scratch. This process took a long time but the cookies turned out perfect. They are so soft on the inside, crispy outside. My icing skills are a little amateur, but ugly icing tastes just as good as pretty icing.

The whole process was really fun, but it was very time consuming and made a mess!

Ingredients:

• 3 1/4 C sifted all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 C unsalted butter, room temperature (1.5 sticks)**
• 1/2 C dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 T ground ginger
• 1 T ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 C unsulfured molasses

**Butter confession: I defrosted two sticks of butter and realized after the dough went in the fridge that I used all two sticks instead of 1.5 sticks. So when I was rolling out the dough, I liberally tossed on flour to make it tougher. That fixed it. So if you use this recipe, you may not need to throw on as much flour when rolling it out.

Instructions:

• In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

• In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Mix in eggs and molasses. Gradually add flour mixture; combine on low speed.

• Divide dough into thirds, wrapping each in Saran Wrap. Chill for at least one hour or overnight. Before rolling out, let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. If the dough is too soft to roll (or is sticky), add in more flour.

• Heat oven to 350*. Place a dough third on a large piece of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, roll to 1/8 inch thick. Refrigerate again for 5-10 minutes. Use a cookie cutter to make shapes, lay on ungreased cookie pan. Press raisins or chocolate chips into dough as buttons.

• (baker’s note: My dough was a little sticky, so I added flour and worked it in, then rolled it, and then put it in a ball and added flour and rolled it again. Just do what you need to do to get it rolled pretty. I also thought parchment paper was annoying but then I transfered the sheet to sit in the refrigerator, and that was easier than lifting and placing on a tray to refrigerate.)

I tried greased and non-greased cookie sheets, both worked fine.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until crisp. Let sit until cooler and move to a wire rack. Decorate only after it completely cools. Icing instructions below.

Royal Icing:

Ingredients:

• 1 egg white
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 3/4 C confectioners sugar

Instructions:

• Combine egg white and lemon juice and mix in electric mixer. Add powdered sugar slowly and incorporate fully, scraping down sides too.
• Spoon into piping back or sandwich bag and cut an end in the bag to pipe. You can’t wait to do this or it will dry out quickly.

Doesn’t it look like snow? And don’t you want to lick that spoon?

Sometimes they break, which is just so so sad. You know where broken gingerbread men go, right?

Gingerbread Oatmeal

Ingredients:

• 3/4 C water
• 1/4 C Scottish Oats
• 1/4 C Almond Milk
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 T raisins
• 1/2 tsp chia seeds
• 1/2 banana, sliced
• dash salt
• crumbled gingerbread on top
• maple syrup on top

Instructions:

In small pot, bring water to a simmer. Add oats and whisk. Add almond milk and salt and whisk. Let cook and bubble. Add banana, raisins, chia seeds. Stir. Add all spices. Let cook together for 5 minutes until thick.