Cookie of the Month - Ninjabread Men!

My SIL told me about a 'Cake of the Month' idea she has been doing with a friend of hers.  I loved it, and decided for 2014 that I would do a cookie of the month.  It's hard enough for my family to finish a batch of cookies, so there is no way I could have us eating cake every month ;)  (Here's my trick.  I usually make the whole batch of cookie dough, then freeze half.  That way when the kids want cookies I can easily bring some dough out to thaw and pop them in the oven.  If you freeze them rolled into balls it makes the thawing and baking even easier! No more stale cookies) :)

January's cookie is inspired by a gift my son was given for his birthday.  A LOVES to bake, and a friend of ours gifted him some Ninjabread cookie cutters.  Aren't those fantastic?  A asked me on Sunday if we could make them and I had him wait until yesterday as I figured it was a great birthday activity to do :)

11 years ago (wow!) when my hubby and I were married, my SIL gifted me the Betty Crocker Wedding Cookbook.  It is my go to recipe book for almost everything.  The recipes always turn out great.  So when it came to looking for a gingerbread recipe for our Ninjas, it was this book that I turned to.

 The only downside about this recipe is that it would yield ALOT of gingerbread.  As I was running short on molasses, I split the recipe into thirds which ended up being a perfect amount, giving us two dozen Ninjas.

Gingerbread Cookies

1C packed brown sugar
1/3C shortening
1 1/2C dark molasses
2/3C cold water
7C all purpose flour
2tsp baking soda
2tsp ginger
1tsp ground allspice
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground cloves
1/2tsp salt

1.  Beat brown sugar, shortening, molasses and water in bowl with mixer on medium speed.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate for about 2 hrs.
2.  Heat oven to 350.
3.  Roll dough 1/4" thick on floured surface.  Cut with cookie cutters (or Ninjas!)
4.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched.  Cook on cookie rack.

The recipe above is the original amount so my guess is it would easily yield 60 cookies, or a gingerbread house :)