Gingerbread Art For Decorating

 One of the nicest little Christmas decorations you could make for tree ornaments,  embellishment to packages, or your home are gingerbread art ornaments.  They are made out of edible ingredients but, they are for decoration only.  This recipe for Gingerbread Art, I clipped out of the St. Louis Post Dispatch years ago and I have made them for several years.  They are a great project for the kids and everyone will appreciate the smell they add to the holidays baking in the oven.  Here are a few other ways I have used them.

They look great on gifts.

They make great ornaments.

They are wonderful added to a wreath, but be sure not to hang it outside, the moisture in the air will make the gingerbread fall apart.

Here I just added the gingerbread to a vignette.

Gingerbread Art

Dough ingredients:

6 3/4 cups of bread flour
1 TB ground cinnamon
2 TSP ground ginger
1/2 TSP salt
1 1/2 cups dark corn syrup
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup margarine

Place all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside.  On medium heat, combine margarine and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan, melt together with brown sugar.  Add warm liquid to dry ingredients mix well.  If dough is too loose, add flour.  If it's too stiff, add water until the desired consistency is achieved (like play dough).  The dough should be firm and elastic.  Remove dough from the mixer and wrap in plastic, to keep from drying out.  Roll to the desired thickness (about 1/4") on the desired work space.  Place rolled dough on a cookie sheet and place in the refrigerator.  This will allow the dough to stiffen and not stretch when cut out.  After cutting the pattern, bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees  for 10-15 minutes or until edges turn light brown.  (About 12 minutes works for me.)  Also, don't forget to put a hole in the top of the ornament.  I use a straw to punch out just the right size hole to hang them by, shown below.

Important:  Let the gingerbread dry out for several days before you begin assembly.


I painted the eyes, hair, mouth, and buttons with bright white shiny dimensional fabric paint.  First, I dust all traces of flour off the cookie and the paint sticks really well.  Storage method would depend on the success of keeping them. 


Another choice for decorating them would be Royal Icing.


Royal Icing:

This will also harden to a bright white color and stay that way.


Ingredients:

 3 TB meringue powder
4 cups powdered sugar
6 TB water


Mix ingredients at low speed for 7-10 minutes.  After mixing, keep the bowl covered with a damp towel to avoid drying out.
I will link to:
Centsational Girl Holiday Home Craft Party 
Christmas Ideas for Children  at Busy as a Bee in Paris

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts

Show and Tell Wednesday at Blue Cricket Design

Get Your Craft On  at Today's Creative Blog

Go and visit these great blogs.