Homemade Children's Christmas Gifts: Edible Gingerbread Puzzles

This fun gingerbread recipe makes a fun children's Christmas gift that they can play with as they snack. Make entertaining Christmas gingerbread puzzles in any picture the kids on your Christmas list will enjoy.

Gingerbread Puzzles
Ingredients:
2 ½ Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
½ Teaspoon salt
1 Teaspoon Ginger
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
½ Teaspoon Nutmeg
½ Teaspoon Cloves
½ Cup Shortening
½ Cup Sugar
½ Cup Molasses
1 beaten egg

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and set them aside. In a small bowl, soften shortening in a microwave on high for fifteen to twenty seconds. Add sugar, molasses, and egg to shortening. Blend well. Combine two mixtures together. Knead until well mixed. Roll dough out onto lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 to ¼ of an inch. Cut dough into large sections that can be handled. Sizes up to eight by eight inches work well. Place dough on a cookie sheet . Bake at 350 degrees for eight to ten minutes. Remove from oven.

Cut gingerbread immediately into puzzle shapes. Use one or two cookie cutters as a center pattern. Press the cookie cutter into the gingerbread just far enough to make an imprint. Finish cutting the cookie cutter pattern and surrounding puzzle pieces with a sharp knife. Let the gingerbread cookie pieces cool completely on the cookie sheet. It is best to keep gingerbread puzzle patterns simple.

Gingerbread puzzles are not only fun and unique Christmas gifts for children to receive, but they are also easier holiday alternatives to crafting tricky Christmas gingerbread houses.

To choose a pattern for the gingerbread puzzle Christmas gifts you give, think about what the receiving child likes. Choose a cookie cutter that illustrates a favorite sport, activity, or interest. ABC's and 1,2,3's or basic geometric shapes are good general choices if you don't know much about a small child receiving your Christmas gingerbread puzzle. Of course, any Christmas theme, Santa, reindeer, or presents are appropriately themed as well.

Here are two more recipes that coordinate well with Christmas gingerbread puzzle gifts for edible cookie paint and decorator icing.

Decorator Icing
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons Milk
2 Tablespoons Light Corn Syrup
2 Cups Powdered Sugar, sifted

Mix liquid ingredients together in a small bowl. Add the sugar. Use immediately.

Cookie Paint
Ingredients:
2 Cups Powdered Sugar
1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup
2 Tablespoons Milk
Food Coloring

Stir together first three ingredients in a large bowl to make a smooth glaze. More milk can be added as needed. Pour a small amount of glaze onto cookies and allow to dry for an hour (this will make a sort of 'canvas' for painting additional details onto).

Thin the remaining glaze with a few drops of milk. Separate glaze into muffin tins and stir in food coloring. Paint cookies using the cookie paint with a clean paintbrush.

For Gingerbread Puzzles, Jennifer Rader, author of The Rainy Day Activity Book (Doubleday, NY, 1995) recommends either recipe for decoration. Rader writes that the Decorator icing recipe is ideal for topping Christmas Gingerbread puzzles because it dries to a "hard, shiny finish". Recipes included in this article are found in The Rainy Day Activity Book.

Gingerbread puzzles on their own make excellent Christmas gifts, but you could make a bit more of the puzzles by mixing cookie paints in small containers or baby food jars and giving them in a Christmas gift bag or basket, accompanied by new paintbrushes. That way, the children receiving your Christmas gingerbread puzzles can decorate their Christmas gift in their own way for a little added fun (and save you some work!). Chocolate chips, frosting, and small candies for embellishment can be added as well.

Many people have veered away from giving handmade gifts or home made baked goods as Christmas present, particularly for children. Nevertheless, fun edible Christmas recipes like this for Gingerbread Puzzles can keep the cost of fun Christmas gift giving down, while still providing a fun Christmas gift children can enjoy! For more recipes and gift ideas, check out my other Associated Content articles here.