gingerbread bear bonanza

We’re totally infested with gingerbread bears. It’s a nightmare, let me tell you. It all started with some dough.

Best Gingerbread Cookie Dough Ever

Take 3/4 cup butter, softened

and 3/4 cup sugar.

Cream these together.

Add 3/4 cup molasses and

1/4 cup water and mix a bit more. I usually do all this in my food processor.

Next whisk together in a bowl the spices. There are many:

2 teaspoons ground ginger or a honking tablespoon of fresh ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon cardamon

Plus 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and

3 and 1/4 cups flour.

Add the dry stuff to the wet stuff in the food processor. Mix!

Divide this pile in two (makes it easier to roll out later), wrap each in plastic or foil, and chill in the fridge for a good long while, maybe several hours, or overnight.

Now you’re ready to make bears!

Assemble your bear making team. Give them an assortment of decorations. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Then commence rolling out the dough, about 1/4 inch thick, as if your life depended on it. Your team will now astound you with their bear making abilities. Set them free to go nuts. They will thank you for it.

Before you can even blink, you’ll have this:

Which you then pop in the oven for about 10 minutes (depending on your oven, how thick you rolled them, and whether you like them soft or crunchy).

Wait for them to cool….

And boom. Bear party! Eat your bears. Or hang them around your tree, maybe. Make them dance. Talk in little bear voices, saying little bear things. Put on whole, musical stage productions with them. Or you can do as we did, and commence with all of the above.

Just look at him. You can see the cunning on this bear’s face. The nefarious plan.

This bear knows things.