1/2 cup butter or shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon soda dissolved in 2 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg beaten
1 pinch salt
2-1/2 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar together, beat in the egg. Add milk in which soda has been dissolved. Add vanilla, flour, & salt.

Chill dough about 2 hours. Then roll to 1/8 inch thickness. Dip cutter in flour before cutting out cookies.
(Gingerbread Man cookie cutter.)

Cookies can be made to do clever tricks after having been cut out. By simply moving the limbs, head, etc., of the cookies to various positions before baking.

Bake in regular oven at 350 degrees farenheit or a Nesco Oven at 400 degrees farenheit

Recipe makes about two dozen cookies.

For chocolate cookies, merely add 1 heaping tablespoon of cocoa to above.
For colored dough add food coloring to milk before mixing.

To Decorate Cookies:
1 teaspoon powdered sugar.
Add a few drops of water until mixture becomes a fairly thick icing.
1 or 2 drops of food coloring.

Apply icing with small brush following the design imprinted by the cookie cutter - or your own creation.