Christmas in July

I bet you can't wait! It's only four days away! That's right--it's time for Christmas in July! No, I don't actually celebrate the day that's exactly five months away from my number one favorite holiday, but this year in July my brother asked if I could possibly whip up a batch of gingerbread cookies for him and his friends to celebrate their weekly "Bad Movie Night" showing (this week: The Gingerdead Man. Yeah, I don't want to know either...).

Actually, the request from my 22-year-old brother went more like this:

David: "Cookies?"

Mom: "We don't have anymore cookies."

David: "Cookies?"

Me: "I can make you some cookies."

David: "Cookies?"

Me: "What kind of cookies do you want?"

David: "Gingerbread."

Me: "...Okay."

Thus began a new baking adventure of producing enough cookies to feed three hungry 20-somethings by the time their 70-minute bad movie was finished. If you've ever made gingerbread cookies, you might know that the dough needs time to chill in the fridge--sometimes even overnight--before being returned to room temperature, rolled out, and cut with adorable cookie cutter shapes.

I had my own "go-to" gingerbread man recipe from years ago, but it still called for that same extended chill time, hadn't been tested in a few years, and was...all the way upstairs.

Time to experiment! I knew I wanted molasses, brown sugar, and cloves in my recipe for sure, so I began to search gingerbread recipes online (using my iPhone that was already downstairs) until I came across something close to what I wanted. Using that as a basis, I began to tweak proportions, add a little more of the stuff I liked (omg, cloves smell amazing) and then chilled the dough in the freezer for just under 15 minutes.

It came out cool but not too hard, which allowed me to flatten the dough easily and quickly cut out various men (and women) shapes before baking them in the oven and praying they tasted acceptable to my brother and his friends.

 

I needn't have worried--20-somethings, like teenagers, will eat anything.

However, they did seem to genuinely enjoy how the cookies turned out, finishing about half the batch before deciding they wanted to buy frosting at Wal-Mart and decorate the rest.

I have limited artistic ability, but the above cookies (aside from the single one adorned in white--mine) were adorably dressed by my brother's friends after I went to bed. Mission accomplished.

And to keep this blog short and sweet, my Bad Movie Night Christmas in July Gingerbread Men Cookies recipe will be posted next.