Gingerbread Ornaments

These cookies aren't to eat, but they sure do smell good!
And they're adorable, aren't they?!

My daughters Brownie (Girl Scout's) troop entered a tree into the Festival of Trees this year.  The theme was Girl Scout Cookies :)
Each mom had an assignment, mine was to make Gingerbread Girl Ornaments.
This is what I came up with.

First, the gingerbread recipe I used is non-edible (see bottom of post for recipe link and tips.)
They bake up nice and puffy, then dry super hard. Oh, and they smell heavenly.
Once they were dried out I sprayed them with polyurethane. I'm not sure how necessary this step is, but the Festival Rules required it.
I painted them with craft paints - SO much easier than frosting!

Here we go!
Mix up your dough.

Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 4 hours. Mine was in the fridge overnight.
Once you're done refrigerating, divide the dough into 3 pieces and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.

 

Use cookie cutters to cut out your shapes (this recipe would be great for gingerbread house walls, too!)

Use a straw to make a hole in each cookie before baking.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.
Once all the cookies were done baking I placed them all back on cookie sheets and put them in the oven while it cooled off - to dry the cookies out a little more.
Then I let them dry for 24 hours.
This is when I sprayed them (front and back) with polyurethane.
I let them dry overnight, then painted them.

This was the hardest part - because I'm not a great painter.

I also made some for me and the grandparents - a boy and a girl gingerbread ornament for each of us :)
How cute is this little guy?

I have several left over for the kids to paint on the weekend.  These can hang around for ever without going bad!

Recipe Link
Tips: I used almost a full cup more water than the recipe calls for. It needed it!
The recipe made about 30 cookies, and my cutter was pretty big.

After the cookies were done I ended up using sandpaper to smooth the sides on many of them.
If I were going to make them again I would probably reduce the baking soda a bit - they got a little puffier than I would have preferred.

Linking up to...
Dare to DIY
Just Something I Whipped Up
and It's So Very Creative
:)