Who doesn't love a party!

It's that time of year again, my oldest bear will be celebrating her 6th birthday soon (how in the world is it possible that she's turing six!) and this year for her party she wanted to decorate gingerbread houses with her friends. I've written about how special it is for kids to receive fun and creative party invites (click here for the post), so this year I thought it would be fun to bake mini gingerbread house cookies to match the invites. For photos of the invites and where to find them along with gingerbread recipe (which makes the softest, tastiest gingerbread) click below. 

I randomly came across these really cute house cards about six months ago at a Dymocks sale  and I knew they would make the perfect invitations for the party. 

They even have the number 6 on the door. Prefect! They're no longer for sale at Dymocks but you can buy the cards here from ecojot.com. I used picmonkey to create the text for the inside of the card and taped the cards (using washi tape) to a sheet of normal A4 paper and ran it through my home printer. Easy!

Next I made the gingerbread house cookies. I originally posted this recipe for gingerbread, but I've since modified it, and the result is a gingerbread that holds it's shape, tastes delicious and is a nice light golden brown. 

Gingerbread Recipe

·      3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

·      115 grams butter softened

·      2 large eggs

·      1/4 cup molasses

·      3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

·      2 teaspoons ground ginger

·      1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

·      1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·      1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

·      1/2 teaspoon salt

Step 1: Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius (fan-forced). Using an electric mixer at low speed, cream the sugar and butter until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs and molasses and mix until combined. Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and combine with a spoon or spatula.

Step 2: Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour.

Step 3: Line baking sheets with non-stick baking paper. Take about 1/4 of the dough at a time and roll onto a floured surface until you reach your desired thickness. You can also roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper and then once you cut out your cookies, simply place the baking paper that has the cookies on it, onto the baking tray and then you don’t risk tearing the cookies when transferring from your rolling surface to the baking sheet. You can re-roll the scraps.

Step 4: Bake for 10 minutes, until just beginning to brown at the edges. Transfer to wire racks to cool. 

Step 5: Using royal icing, ice the cookies as desired.

Next I packaged the cookies in clear cellophane bags and gave each invitee a card and cookie. The invites have set the theme and colour scheme for the party. So the next step in planning for the party is to decide on the games, treats and cake. I've made sweet little aprons for each guest, which I will post soon with a step by step tutorial on how to make them.

Party on!