Gingerbears

When I was a kid, my parents always used to read me a Christmas book called The Gingerbears' First Christmas.  I loved that book so much that when I learned to cook I never bothered making gingerbread men or women (or even houses until more recently) but only gingerbears.  Gingerbears don't really need facial features made of raisins or little buttons down their fronts, but they do need cinnamon hearts if you're going to serve them on Christmas day (it's kind of a long story, I recommend that you read it).  The gingerbears I made tonight don't have cinnamon hearts, which either means that Santa hasn't visited yet, or that I forgot to buy them at the store.

This was going to be a post about how the gingerbread recipe from the Joy of Cooking isn't as user-friendly as the one I used to use in my parents' Betty Crocker, but now I think I'll just urge you to read about the gingerbears.  If you have kids, this is a magical book to share with them.  If you don't, I think it's worth a read to remind you how awesome being a kid was.  I eventually bought my own copy, and I still read it every year!