Gingerbread Birdhouses
Servings
6dozen
Servings
6dozen
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the eggs, molasses, vanilla extract, and orange extract and beat until combined. In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until you have a smooth dough. Divide the dough into thirds and wrap each third in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.
  2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  3. Remove one third of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch (1 cm). (Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter.) Lay your woodgrain mat over your dough and then roll your rolling pin over the mat. Use enough pressure to leave a pattern but not enough to significantly thin the dough. Remove the mat. Cut out your birdhouses and transfer cookies to baking sheet. Place the baking sheets with the unbaked cookies in the freezer for about 5 minutes to chill the dough which prevents the cookies from spreading and losing their shape while baking.
  4. Bake cookies for about 9-10 minutes or until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. Decorate the birdhouses with the white icing as shown above. Be sure to let the icing dry at least 4 hours before storing.