Eco & Edible Holiday Ornaments

Want to try something new to spruce up your holiday tree this Christmas?  Bake up a batch of these Gingerbread Cookies and use them to decorate your tree.  Then when you are ready to put away your tree, just eat up the decorations...if there's any left!

Caroline's Gingerbread Cookies - from the Whitewater Cooks at Home (one of my favourite Cookbooks).

Ingredients:
4 cups flour
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
2. tbsp. ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, slighly beaten
1/2 cup molasses

METHOD:
Sift together flour, cocoa, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg then gradually beat in the molasses.  Slowly beat in the flour until just combined.
Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead gently a few times.
Divide the dough into 4 pieces and flatten into disks.  Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Prepare tow parchment lined baking sheets.
Roll dough out to desired thickness.  We like them pretty thin but it depends n how big your cutters are.  If little kids are handling them you may want to roll them a little thicker.  Cut out shapes and place on baking sheet.
Bake for about 10 minutes but be careful not to overbake.
Cool on a rack before decorating with your favourite icing.

If you are using these for decorating your tree, use a royal icing made with egg whites and flavoured with a bit of lemon juice.

Bigger cookies like gingerbread men will take longer to bake than small stars.  For a pretty and crunchy cookie, sprinkle cookies with course sugar after icing.

Give the Gift that Gives

Are you tired of giving gifts that stay unused in the back of the closet? Why not give a gift that actually means something - like a goat!  I'm not kidding! Give a needy family in the developing world a goat, they'll get about a quart of fresh milk a day, 2-3 offspring a year, and great fertilizing manure for their vegetable garden. Not sure where to get that goat? Well, neither was I until I came across Changing the Present. Through their website you can access all kinds of usable gift donations such as for $100 you can purchase one family's share in a community water system in Nepal, for $12 you can purchase two mosquito bed nets for children in Africa, for $5 you can purchase a hygiene packet for a family of five in Peru that includes soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste and oral reydration salts. You can feel good knowing that your money is going to good use, and not just sitting in the back of that closet.

Check out this fantastic video by Changing the Present:

Change the present this Holiday Season, one gift at a time.