Chewbacca Gingies for Secret Santa

'Tis the season...for gingerbread! The Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf decided to make some gingerbread cookies for his Secret Santa buddy. Since his buddy loves Star Wars as much as we do, he wanted to use his Chewbacca cutter instead of a traditional gingerbread man shape. Too cute.

Ingredients

• 1¼ C organic dark brown sugar
• ¼ C butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg
• ⅓ C milk (I used whole milk)
• 1½ t baking soda
• 1½ t ground cinnamon
• 1 t ground ginger
• ½ t ground cardamom
• ¾ C unsulphured molasses
• ¼ C ginger syrup*
• 6 C flour
• ¼ C crystallized ginger (thinly sliced)*
• unsweetened cocoa powder, for rolling

Procedure

Beat brown sugar and butter together in a large bowl until well-combined. Add egg and milk. Beat again until smooth. Add baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, molasses, ginger syrup, and crystalized ginger. Beat again.

Stir in 4 C of flour. Gradually add remaining flour, using a wooden spoon. Once the dough starts to become stiff , quickly knead in the flour. It should come together into a ball.

Split dough into two balls. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. When you are ready to bake, reheat the oven to 350° F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Roll the dough out, using cocoa powder instead of flour, to approximately ¼" thickness. Use cookie cutters to shape your dough.

Place on prepared baking sheet. Re-roll dough and repeat until your dough is gone.

Place in preheated oven and bake for approximately 10 to 12 minutes - until cookies just start to turn golden around the edges and are slightly raised.

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack. Once they are cooled, keep them covered so they stay soft.

We hope D's buddy likes them!

We sure enjoyed "testing" them out. Yum. I did tell the boys that they couldn't take any to school in their lunches because the buddy might see them and know, immediately, who his Secret Santa is.

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