Darling, fragrant little ornaments you
can hang from your tree or give as holiday gifts, assuming you
can resist eating them first!
Gingerbread
Birdhouse Ornaments
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups full-flavor molasses
2/3 cup cold water
6 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Drinking straw
- 8 pretzel sticks, cut
into 1-inch lengths
Easy Creamy Frosting (See Below)
Powdered sugar
Betty Crocker® green decorating icing
Betty Crocker® Holiday Décor holly berry sprinkles
Gold string
- Stir together brown sugar,
shortening, molasses and cold water in large bowl.
- Stir in flour, baking
soda, ginger, salt, allspice, cloves and cinnamon. Cover and
refrigerate at least 2 hours.
- Heat oven to 350ºF.
Lightly grease cookie sheet.
- Roll dough 1/2-inch thick
on lightly floured surface. Cut into squares or circles for bases
of birdhouses and into hearts for roofs, using knife or floured
cookie cutters, each about 2 1/2-inches in diameter. Place heart
shape upside down on top of square or circle, just overlapping.
- Make hole in center of
birdhouse base for door and at top of roof for hanging, using
end of drinking straw. Place about 1 1/2-inches apart on cookie
sheet.
- Bake about 15 minutes
or until no indentation remains when touched.
- While warm, insert pretzel
stick just below door hole for perch. Remove from cookie sheet.
Cool completely.
- Frost tops of cookies
(roofs) with Easy Creamy Frosting; sprinkle with powdered
sugar.
- Decorate with decorating
icing and sprinkles.
- Thread pieces of gold
string through holes in tops of birdhouses; tie in knots to make
hangers.
Makes 15 ornaments.
- Easy Creamy Frosting:
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 to 5 tablespoons half-and-half
Food color, of your choice, if desired
- Stir together powdered
sugar, vanilla and half-and-half until smooth and spreadable.
- Tint with food color.
Storage Tip:
To enjoy these festive ornaments as treats for several days,
keep them tightly covered. Ornaments are made from natural ingredients
so those used for decorating should be kept for one holiday season
only. They're so simple to make, you'll enjoy making more of
them next year.
Special Touch Tip:
This tree is for the birds! For a fun decorating theme, hang
Gingerbread Birdhouse Ornaments on your tree and add tiny silk
birds available at most arts and crafts stores. Weave in some
colorful ribbon, and you’ll have the most unique tree around.
Nutritional Information: 1 Serving, Calories 485 (Calories
from Fat 55 ); Total Fat 6 g (Saturated Fat 2 g); Cholesterol
0mg; Sodium 350 mg; Total Carbohydrate 105 g (Dietary Fiber 2
g); Protein 5 g% Daily Value: Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium
30 %; Iron 46 %.
Recipe and photograph provided courtesy of General Mills,
Inc.
