Gingerbread Engagement Cookies

Hello friends! Long time... I know. So much to tell you about!

First, let me share about one of my best friends, Paula. She is my Italian-other-half. She is responsible for my love for risotto, homemade lasagna, gnocchi, tiramisu, the list goes on.

Paula recently got engaged to her beau, Blair! So exciting! As (two of) her honoured bridesmaids, Alison and I threw her a super casual engagement party with a few Toronto friends and family.

As a party favour, I made ginger bread cookies (perhaps inspired by Blair... who knows).

I don't think gingerbread is among the list of all-time-favourite-cookies. People tend to prefer the chocolate chip, the double chocolate chip, the oatmeal raisin, the macadamia white chocolate, my favourite whole wheat oatmeal chocolate chip. But those don't work well with cookie cutters.

So I went on a hunt for a good gingerbread recipe, a good icing recipe, and cute little cookie cutters.

I found the cookie cutters at St Lawrence Market.  There's a little gold mine of cooking/baking supplies at a place called Placewares.  They have everything.  Even the cookie bags and silver twist ties.

The gingerbread recipe was adapted from thejoyofbaking.com and the icing recipe was from this site.

The cookies were such a hit! I think the secret to gingerbread is making sure it's still soft and chewy. This recipe wasn't too sweet or overpowering with spices. Most recipes call for nutmeg and cloves. I just used cinnamon. The other change I made to the recipe was the ginger. I used fresh finely grated ginger rather than the ground stuff. Enjoy!

Congrats, Paula and Blair!