Gingerbread Men and More

As the weather started turning more frightful, Kenly and I spent a good deal of time in the kitchen concocting all sorts of yummy holiday goodies. Nana and Papa sent us matching aprons, so we were outfitted for our cooking adventure. My apron says holiday hostess. Kenly's reads hostess in training. She looks so grown up with her apron on and her hair pulled back. We created some gingerbread cookies and some pumpkin dip to take to a holiday party. Yum.

Kenly loves dumping all the spices into the bowl. She also loves to smell everything we are adding to the bowl.
The spice-flour combination was beautiful.
After making the batter and chilling it for the appropriate amount of time, we floured the kitchen table to make our cooking cutting experience more pleasant.
Kenly started out trying to cut out the cookies all by herself. When she found that I had to help her apply pressure, she decided to take on a job she could do all by herself.
She loved peeling all the extras off and rolling them into a ball of dough we could use a bit later.
If flour explosions are indicative of the fun we had, then you can see we had a blast.
She is my little hostess in training. She's too adorable for words.
Adam loves this picture. He thinks the caption should say, "Oh no. I left of the secret ingredient."

When we finished baking, Kenly wanted to show off all her cookies. Here is our snowman cookie.
The snowman again.
Don't forget the Christmas tree.
And who can forget the gingerbread man?
Kenly licked this cookie just after I took the picture. She had already eaten her share, but she knew I couldn't put it back in the pile if she licked it. Too smart for her own good.
The cookies were a huge hit, and the dip was a perfect accent. My friend Denise gave the dip recipe, so without further ado, here it is for you.

Pumpkin Dip

6oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 teaspoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Place the first three ingredients in a medium bowl and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add syrup and cinnamon and beat until smooth. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Serve with apple wedges or gingersnaps/cookies.

Yummy!