Gingerbread Cookies, Italian Stereotypes Edition

This should give you some idea of my sense of humor:


Yes, these are gingerbread cookies, cut out in the shapes of six different Italian stereotypes. You've got the Camaro IROC-Z, a dead horse's head (think The Godfather), New Jersey, an angry "guido", Italy, and a handgun.

No, I don't hate Italian people -- how could I, when I am one? In part, at least. Half of my family is Sicilian, North Jersey Sicilian at that, so I've been hearing mafia jokes all of my life (especially when "The Sopranos" was popular, oy.) And I firmly believe the best way to disarm stereotypes is to mock them... so thus, these cookies were born.

The idea for these cookies came from a friend. We were poking around in an edible crafts store, looking through cookie cutters, when she came across a New Jersey shaped cookie cutter, as well as a horse's head. She turned to me, the two cookie cutters in hand, and said, "You should TOTALLY make mafia-themed cookies." Over the years, the cookies grew from the horse's head and NJ, to the six shapes you see above. I make them every Christmas, and every single year, my mostly Italian family gets a huge kick out of them.

And, you know, with things like "Jersey Shore" and "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" getting so much press these days, these cookies just seem fitting.

Merry Christmas Eve from this New Jersey half-Italian!