Gingerbread

It's the school holidays. I have been wanting to bring Athena to Kooky Art or do some crafts workshops, however in the end - I changed my mind. I can buy the cookies and let her do it by herself in the comfort of our home. Anyway, nobody can hear me nagging at her for making a mess when I'm at home.

So, I was looking for cookies since I haven't even figured out how to use my microwave to bake cookies. Otherwise it'll be great to use my cute cookie cutters to make cookies. (abit siao right? Buy cookie cutters quite some time back when I haven't even figure it out)

I remembered reading from somewhere that Goodwood Park Hotel's Deli sells this $30 Gingerbread DIY Kit. Wanted to let Athena ' play' with it but in the end decided against the idea as Athena will make a mess out of it and I didn't want to feel sim-tia. They don't sell plain gingerbread man.
I end up buying those squared; star-shaped and heart-shaped cookies from Marriott. I was able to find gingerbread man from Marks & Spencer too!

Ikea sells the Gingerbread house at $7.50. I will have to see if I can find the time to drop by the stupid place before Christmas.

Anyway, I don't understand why too..... why during Christmas I'll start thinking about gingerbread. What's the association between the two? I can't find a good answer to it but found some things which are good to know on the web.

http://www.annieshomepage.com/gingerbread2.html
http://frankysattic.home.comcast.net/history.html

Recipe : Chocolate Gingerbread cookies (extracted from allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS
* 1/2 cup butter
* 1/2 cup molasses
* 2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2/3 cup white sugar
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup milk
* 1/3 cup granulated sugar for decoration

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine butter or margarine, molasses, and unsweetened chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Heat until chocolate melts. Stir until smooth.
2. Sift together flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, and salt. Stir in melted chocolate mixture and milk. Mix well. Chill until firm.
3. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F ( 190 degrees C) for about 10 minutes.