Five Minute Friday ~ Cookies

Gypsy Mama is taking a break from Five Minute Friday for the month of December; qhilw enjoying my Christmas vacation from school for a week now, I find I've more time to enjoy Five Minute Friday this month than I normally do...

So, I came up with a list of words that might be heard around Christmastime - and am randomly selecting one for each Friday in December.

This Friday's word is...

Cookies

Wednesday before school let out, Jonathan walks up to me at my desk, where I'm frantically typing reports and figuring grade and shoves a paper between me and the computer screen.

"Mama, can you help me do this?"

The school was having a gingerbread house contest; participants needed to deliver their creations to the school on Friday morning.

"Please?  I've never made one..." he persisted.

Well, neither had I, at least not a real one made totally of edible stuff... and making anything is never as straightforward here in Niger as it is where stuff is so easily available as back in the States.

But, I'm a sucker for those gorgeous blue eyes and contagious grin with the gap between the two front teeth AND his fellow sibling compadres at the elementary school quickly joined the chorus of pleases...

So I conceded and began scouring the Internet for recipes including substitutes for molasses (honey), making your own gumdrops (link to recipe below) and how to make royal icing without Wilton's meringue powder (use egg whites heated to 160').

Here's our creation... I think they said they were awarded third place, and it was an awful lot of fun. (And for those of you who are curious - yes, I "built" the house. They "decorated.")

Santa was Tori's idea... I thought we needed the gumdrop hat!

Gumdrop strips helped hold the roof together.

Jonathan and Mary Michelle loved putting all of the "presents" under the tree.

If we'd had more time, the kids wanted to actually "furnish" the inside of the house. But... we didn't have the time. I think Elsie Mae had finally forgiven me for not agreeing to this scheme this time. Maybe next year?

Third time was the charm on getting the chimney successfully attached!

Unwrapping Smarties and watching Mom build.

She'd just climbed out of the shower... to get frosting all over herself! 

Devouring the house Saturday morning.

For what it's worth?

Since I'd already posted all of the photos on fb, photos and all, this post actually was right around (I'm never to-the-second-exact) 5 minutes!

If you are game to try and make your own homemade gumdrops, you can find the recipe here. It is a lot of fun and I expect the kids and I will do it again at Easter, with springy, Eastery shapes!