Tasha Tudor: Christmas-Tree Gingerbread

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<em>Makes about 10 large animal figures</em>
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<p>Tasha uses this sturdy gingerbread for making tree ornaments or gingerbread houses, but it makes for rather dull eating. She cuts out animal shapes freehand, but you can use cookie cutters if you’d rather. Use your favorite white frosting to decorate them.</p>
<p>You can also use this recipe to make a gingerbread house by baking slabs for the sides and the roof. It is a good idea to prick holes where you wish to sew the walls together when baked. Tasha then uses white boiled frosting for the snow and decorations, but use your imagination. Set the house on a mirror for the effect of a lake, and arrange spruce and other twigs for a forest.</p>
<p>• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened<br />
• 1 cup dark brown sugar<br />
• 3 farm-fresh eggs, well beaten<br />
• 1 1/2 cups molasses<br />
• 6 cups unbleached flour<br />
• 1 1/2 tablespoons ginger<br />
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt<br />
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda<br />
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon</p>
<p>1. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and add the brown sugar, eggs, and molasses. Sift together all the dry ingredients and add them to the butter mixture. Mix thoroughly and chill well ­before rolling out on a floured slab.</p>
<p>2. Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a cookie sheet.</p>
<p>3. Cut the desired ornament shapes 8 to 12 inches high. Place them on the greased cookie sheet and bake them in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the gingerbread is very hard.</p>
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<em>Kathleen Halloran, writer and associate editor of The Herb Companion, would spend more time rocking on the porch if she had a porch. Her home and garden are in Laporte, Colorado.Tash</em>
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<p>Click here for the main article, <a href=”https://www.motherearthliving.com/gardening/tasha-tudor.aspx”>
<strong>Tasha Tudor: A Simple Life, A Sprawling Garden</strong>
</a>.</p>