The weather has official turned cold in Texas, and everyone has brought out their woolies. I find myself craving for those iconic flavors of winter weather like apple cider, cinnamon rolls, and more. So last weekend I pulled out my recipe books to master the gingerbread cookie. ‘Cause I have big expectations for my gingerbread dough this year.

I plan to make my own gingerbread house that not only looks good but tastes good too. The pre-prepped kit one can find in the store tastes awful and quickly meets the garbage can because no one wants to eat it. So I plan to change that this Christmas with my gingerbread house. It is all about the waste not, want not. So first step in my ambitious plans, test gingerbread recipes.

After flipping through several recipes, I decided to test the gingerbread cookies from King Arthur Flour. They are a flour supply company that not only make fabulous products but have fantastic recipes. Their gingerbread seemed the most fool proof so why not give it a go.

2 hours later, I had baked beautiful gingerbread men that were not only tasty but were sturdy even to possible build a house out of in the future.

But a few tips I would add to the recipe for beginner bakers:

• Make sure your egg is room temperature so it blends into the mix easier
• Lightly spray your measuring cups with oil before measuring out molasses so that it slides easily out after
• Use Clove instead of Allspice. It is stronger.
• You can use any all purpose baking flour not just King Arthurs (I buy their bread flour religiously but it is not necessary for the All Purpose Flour)
• Try to use as much of the dough as possible before re-rolling the scraps together and rolling the new ball out. The dough gets tougher the more times it is rolled out and more flour collected from the counter and pin.
• Make your royal icing while cookies cool if you plan to icing them.
  • it takes a lot of confectioner sugar so be sure you have plenty before you begin