The Cutest Gingerbread Reindeer

This weekend our papa and brother John spent most of Saturday putting up the outdoor Christmas lights. The result: our A-frame red roofed house is decked out in LED glory. In honour of the debut of the Christmas lights, Charlotte and I decided to make our favourite gingerbread cookies. They are made with Spelt and of course are dairy free. The spin on these cookies is that they aren't just your plain old gingerbread: they are reindeer gingerbread!

All you have to do is take a regular gingerbread cookie cutter and flip it upside down! They are just the cutest and of course taste delicious. 

Timfam's Favourite Gingerbread: 

(adapted from Mrs. Field's Cookie Book) 

Ingredients 

4 1/2 cups of spelt flour 

1/2 tsp of baking soda 

1/4 tsp of salt 

1 tsp of ground cinnamon 

2 tsp of ground ginger 

1/4 tsp of ground cloves 

1 cup of margarine 

3/4 cup of dark brown sugar 

1 large egg 

1/2 cup of dark molasses 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 ' F

Step 1: Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a medium sized bowl 

Step 2: Using your electric mixer, blend margarine and brown sugar. Add egg and molasses and beat until smooth. 

Step 3: Scrape the bowl and add the flour mixture, blend on low until just combined. 

Step 4: Separate dough into 2 balls and flatten into disks. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. 

Step 5: On a floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll dough out until 1/4 inch thick. With floured cookie cutters cut into gingerbread. Gather, scrape and re-roll dough until all is used. 

Step 6: Bake 9-11 minutes being careful not to brown. Let cookies cool before icing. 

Royal Icing: 

Ingredients 

3 tbsp of meringue powder

4 cups of icing sugar

3 tbsp of warm water. 

Mix all together until smooth. If icing is too thick, add more warm water. 

To make brown icing: Use red, yellow, blue and a bit of green food dye. 

Flip the gingerbread man so he's upside down. Using a spoon and brown icing, ice the head and ears. Use a toothpick to drag out the ears a tiny bit. Pipe the antlers, nose and eyes. 

Have fun!