Huge Gingerbread Man Cookie Cutter

I made this huge gingerbread man cookie cutter out of yard edging that I found at a thrift store.  It is tin.  First I drew a picture of a gingerbread man on a large piece of paper(newsprint).  I bent the tin edging around the curves.  When it was finished it was too flimsy to hold its shape.  I then cut out of some old scrap paneling wood the same gingerbread shape with a jigsaw.  I stapled the tin gingerbread man cookie cutter to the wood gingerbread man.  I would love to find a roll of sheet metal that was 4 inches wide to make this but this will do.  I'm excited to display it.

Gingerbread/Foamcore Houses

I used gingerbread templates from bobvilla.com to create my fun houses out of foam core board. We colored them. fun project to make with the kids. We made mini ones for our ornaments on our tree. To make real gingerbread houses there is a great recipe here at Housefull of Homeade.

Here are Bob Villa's A-frame house templates.

Window Cookies

Do you remember making window cookies as kids. Just use sugar cookie dough (I bought mine this time) and cut shapes making sure to leave a hole in the middle like a doughnut. Take broken pieces of hard candy & put in the hole of the uncooked cookie on a cookie sheet. Bake your cookies as directed and the hard candy will melt and fill in the window. Use transparent candy (like Jolly Ranchers) for more of a glass look.

Update**The Friend Magazine (Dec '09)has another great recipe for Shining Star Cookies here.