Snack: Spice-Cookie Snowmen

This recipe includes fertility superfoods such as:

Cinnamon

Health and fertility benefits of Spice-Cookie Snowmen

Cinnamon is one of the best ingredients that someone with insulin sensitivity can eat. Half a teaspoon of cinnamon per day has been shown to be very effective at normalizing blood sugar levels. Cinnamon contains hydroxychalcone, which is thought to enhance the effects of insulin. It has also been suggested that Cinnamon prevents post-meal blood sugar spikes by slowing the gastric emptying rate - meaning that food digests slowly. (Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11506060).

Ingredients

3 stick unsalted butter
1 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. each ground allspice and cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
4 c. all-purpose flour
Decorating Icing (directions follow)
You also need: 4-in. snowman cookie cutter with arms and legs, red, green and black paste food colors, fine white decorating (crystal) sugar (see Note), orange sprinkles (jimmies) and small ziptop bags

Instructions

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with mixer on low speed until fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, spices and salt. On low speed, beat in flour until just blended.
Gather dough together and divide in thirds. Shape each portion into a 1-in.-thick disk and wrap separately. Chill 1 hour or until firm.
Heat oven to 375 °F. Have baking sheet(s) ready.
On floured surface with floured rolling pin, roll out 1 disk at a time (keep rest refrigerated) to 1/4 in. thick. Using floured cookie cutter, cut out snowmen. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheet(s). Reroll and cut scraps once.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes until bottoms and edges are just brown. Cool on sheet on a wire rack 2 minutes before removing to rack to cool completely.
To ice and decorate: For each color, put a small portion Decorating Icing into a cup. Stir in food color. Leave remaining icing white.
Spoon some white icing into a ziptop bag. Cut tip off a corner; pipe outline on areas of snowman that will be white. To thin icing for coating: Add drops of water to white icing in bowl until thin enough to spread without dripping. Dip a brush into thinned white icing. Spread to piped border; sprinkle hands and feet with decorating sugar. Let dry 3 hours.
Scrape colored icing into ziptop bags; pipe around hats and scarves. Thin remaining colored icing; fill in. Pipe buttons and eyes and insert orange sprinkles as noses. Let dry at least 6 hours before storing in a single layer. Decorating Icing: In a large bowl, with mixer on low speed, beat 1 lb confectioners' sugar (3 1/4 cups) and 3 Tbsp Just Whites (powdered egg whites, see Note) until combined. Add 6 Tbsp water; beat until blended. Increase mixer speed to high and beat 8 minutes or until icing is very thick.

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