In an effort to make all of her holiday gifts this year, Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla invited some of her favorite foodie bloggers to share recipes for hand-crated edibles. Over the course of twelve weeks, we’ll be sharing recipes for all your homemade holiday gifts or things to serve at holiday parties. Hope you’ll follow along for inspiration. You can find out more information, including the schedule here.

It’s hard to believe we’re at week 11! Today’s theme is “Cookie Tray.” A lot of people assemble cookie tins for gifts and if you’re one of them do you stick to your tried and true or venture out and try something new? I encourage you to mix it up and check out the cookie tray we’ve assembled for you today.

Today I am sharing a slight twist to the traditional gingerbread cookie. This one has honey in it, which provides a floral, smokey, sweetness to the spicy cookie.

I played around with the baking times, thinking they needed a little bit longer after the first batch were done, but giving them an extra two minutes yielded very hard cookies that would be more appropriate for ornaments or dog treats once they’d fully cooled. I know gingersnaps are a little harder than your average cookie, but these were too far gone. I urge you too bake on the side of caution and let batch one cool completely before continuing on with your baking.

Honeyed Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 C honey
• 1 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1/2 C molasses
• 2 tbsp butter
• 6 1/2 C flour
• 3 tbsp gingerbread spice
• 2 tsp baking soda

Steps:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt together the honey, brown sugar, molasses, and butter. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes, or until the sugar is dissolved. Allow mixture to cool for  at least 15 minutes.
2. In a large bowl sift together the flour, gingerbread spice, and baking soda. Stir in the cooled honey mixture until fully incorporated. It will be sticky! Note: I would suggest doing this in a stand mixer.
3. Wrap cookie dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 320 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
5. Roll cookie dough to 1/6″ thickness. Cut shapes with cookie cutters and place on prepared baking sheets. Bake 8 minutes (See my story above regarding baking time) . Let cool on wire rack. Store cookies in an air tight container.

*This recipe is adapted from Nora at http://www.savorynothings.com/homemade-gingerbread-spice-mix-perfect-gingerbread-recipe-free-printables/*

Here are some other options to fill your Cookie Tray:

• Amy’s Cooking Adventures shared 40+ Cookie Cookie Recipes
• Fantastical Sharing of Recipes created Dark Chocolate Cherry Pudding Cookies
• Cookaholic Wife baked Iced Gingerbread Biscotti
• Making Miracles made Candy Cane Cookies
• Sew You Think You Can Cook posted about Honeyed Gingerbread Cookies
• A Day in the Life on the Farm whipped up some Fairy Drops
• Culinary Adventures with Camilla rolled Spicy Peanut Butter Cookies

Next week – week 12 and our final week – is all about wrapping. How to label those jarred mixes. How to mail cookies safely. How to….

Don’t forget to check out our #handcraftededibles pinterest board.