Gingerbread Hula Dancers

My daughter Dani decorates these whimsical cookies around the holidays and they always make me smile.  The dough is easy to make thanks to Trader Joe’s.  We make the dough with their  Gingerbread Cake and Baking Mix.   Here is the easy recipe…

Cookie Ingredients

1 box Trader Joe’s Gingerbread Cake and Baking Mix
1 stick melted butter (1/2 cup)
1 large egg
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup water

Frosting Ingredients

3 egg whites
1 box powdered sugar (1 lb.)
1 tsp. cream of tarter

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375degrees. Combine the mix, butter, egg in a medium sized bowl.  Form into a ball and refrigerate for 1 hour.  Roll out the dough on  a floured board about 1/8 inch thick  Cut into desired shapes.

at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes.  Cool 2-3 minute and transfer to a wire rack.  Yields 4-5 dozen small gingerbread cookies (Less if you use large cookie cutters)

Just before you are ready to decorate the cookies, mix up the frosting ingredients using a high speed mixer until it peaks.  Place in a decorator bag with the smallest tip you can find.  This frosting is great for gingerbread house decorating too!  The recipe makes more than enough.