Santa likes gingerbread, I swear!

When I was a little girl, I used to set out cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve. As usual, we would have tins upon tins upon tins filled with homemade cookies that my mother so lovingly baked with her four little monsters, or Christmas elves as I liked to think.

Choosing what to leave out for Santa was always a struggle! Does he like sugar? gingerbread? almond crescents? or my Dad's famous "birds nests"...

Well one year I left out Gingerbread boys and when I came down in the middle of the night to see if Santa arrived...he had! and he left a note! There was hay all over my front walkway from the reindeer, a note from the Jolly old fella and a BRAND NEW BIKE under the tree.

So, in my experience Santa loves gingerbread! Leave him a taste and you might be extra surprised this holiday!

Here are the two most scrumptious cookie recipes for the holidays to share with your family and friends.

SUGAR COOKIE CUT OUTS

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

GINGERBREAD BOYS

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly milled black pepper
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 large egg
• 
  
• Royal Icing (recipe follows)
• • 1 pound (4 1/2 cups) confectioners' sugar
  • 2 tablespoons dried egg-white powder
  • 6 tablespoons water
  • Position the racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Directions:

Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, salt and pepper through a wire sieve into a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer at high speed, beat the butter and vegetable shorteninguntil well-combined, about 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and beat until the mixture is light in texture and color, about 2 minutes. Beat in the molasses and egg. Using a wooden spoon, gradually mix in the flour mixture to make a stiff dough. Divide the dough into two thick disks and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until chilled, about 3 hours. (The dough can be prepared up to 2 days ahead.)

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature until just warm enough to roll out without cracking, about 10 minutes. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. Using cookie cutters, cut out the cookies and transfer to nonstick cookie sheets, placing the cookies 1 inch apart. Gently knead the scraps together and form into another disk. Wrap and chill for 5 minutes before rolling out again to cut out more cookies.

Bake, switching the positions of the cookies from top to bottom and back to front halfway through baking, until the edges of the cookies are set and crisp, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on the sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire cake racks to cool completely. Decorate with Royal Icing. (The cookies can be prepared up to 1 week ahead, stored in airtight containers at room temperature.)

Have a safe and happy holiday season and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!