Honeyed Gingerbread

5. The big one. Halfway to double digits. Kindergarten. One whole hand. Whichever way you slice it, 5 years old is a big deal. So of course, my big 5 year old boy started planning his party months ago. After weeks of researching and calling, we decided on a kindergym party. You know, you rent out the whole gym at a rec center and they fill it with bikes, balls, slides, and even a bouncy castle. What 5 year old would not like this? He was so excited, and with a max of 25 kids, he could invite almost his whole class. Perfect. Except not so.

It turned out his best (and I mean very best) friend would be gone. Gone for Christmas. His little heart was crushed. So, rather than just having the party without his bestie along side, he wanted to cancel the whole thing. We have a pretty small house, so his options were to keep the party as is, or to have it at our house with only 9 kids one week earlier. Guess what he chose.

So now, how to keep 9 small children entertained for 2 hours in the middle of December. Well, with candy, of course. And cookies. And icing. Put them all together and you get one hyper, delicious mess. And one happy 5 year old.

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Goodie bags- Mugs with candy canes, hot chocolate, caramel chocolates and stickers.

What's a cookie without sprinkles?

My big 5 year old!

Little bro.

Meticulous. This boy is a perfectionist.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Now, in theory I like gingerbread, but it's mostly based on the smell of it. Because every time I actually eat some, all I can taste is molasses. Gross. But, I figured that honey is about the same consistency as molasses, but about a billion times tastier. So I combined them.


Honeyed Gingerbread Cookies
5 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp  ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
1 cup sugar
2 sticks softened butter
2/3 cup fancy molasses
1/2 cup creamed honey
2 egg whites

- Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves with a wire whisk.
- Cream butter and sugar until combined in stand mixer.
- Add molasses, honey and egg whites to sugar and butter mixture.
- Change beaters to cookie paddles and slowly add the flour mixture. (If you don't have a mixer, use
   your hands.)
- Divide dough into 3 or 4 balls, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 2 or more hours.

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll out dough on a floured surface and cut out with cookie cutters.
- Bake on greased cookie sheet for 7-9 minutes.

-Jessica