This is a recipe of my Mother’s.  I have no idea where she found the recipe, but it has become one of those family Christmas cookies staples that we make every year.  We usually use this recipe to make gingerbread men, but this year I was going for simple – figuring that the bunny shape has a cuteness that speaks for itself and does not require elaborate decorations to bring it to life.

Gingerbread Bunnies

This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies (about 3 dozen if you use it to make gingerbread men).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) Butter (room temp)
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup Molasses
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp grated Ginger Root
• 2 1/4 cups Flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp ground Cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground Ginger
• a dash of ground Cloves
• a dash of ground Nutmeg

Directions:

1. Cream together 1 cup butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar.
2. Add in 1/2 cup molasses.
3. Add: 1 egg and 1 tsp grated ginger root.
4. Combine the dry ingredients separately: 2 1⁄4 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1⁄2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, and a dash of cloves and nutmeg.
5. Gradually combine the dry ingredients wth the wet ones.
6. Place the dough in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. The dough is really soft and easier to work with when cold.
7. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
8. Roll out the dough.  Some times I find it easier to do this between two sheets of wax paper.  You want to try to avoid adding to much excess flour to the dough.  This will take away from the rich ginger flavor.
9. Cut out gingerbread bunnies.
10. Bake the cookies on greased or parchment lined cookie sheets for about 10 minutes.

Lemon Glaze:

Ingredients:

• Juice from 1 1/2 Lemons
• 1 1/2 cups of Confectionary (Powdered) Sugar

Directions:

1. Stir the lemon juice and confectionary sugar together until well combined.  Make sure that there are no lumps.
2. Once your cookies have cooled, use a spoon to drizzle the glaze onto each cookie.
3. Leave the cookies out for a couple of hours so that the glaze can dry.