“The Walking Dead” mid-season finale aired a little more than a week ago, thus beginning the show’s brief hiatus until it’s return in February- and I’m already going through withdrawals. My Sunday nights feel empty and meaningless now, and I find myself curling up in the fetal position- and weeping- when I’m not checking off the days on the calendar until the show comes back (not really, but you know what I mean. I can’t wait for the second half of the season!)

Luckily, I have the upcoming holidays to distract me during the first few weeks of Michonne deprivation. I also have this “Walking Ginger-Dead” cookie kit I picked up in Western Massachusetts a couple of weeks ago to give me my walker fix with a semi-festive (and more delicious) twist. I haven’t made actual Christmas cookies in a couple of years, and it’s been even longer than that since I’ve baked and decorated gingerbread men- so I was excited to give this box full of slightly-morbid fun a try. I even included one of my numerous Daryl Dixon FUNKO figurines to help out while I snapped some photos of the process and finished cookies.

The kit comes with everything: the gingerbread mix, four “walker” molds, white frosting mix, red and black icing, and a bag of multi-colored candy balls for decorating. I only had to scrounge up a minimal amount of supplies on my own (water, butter and honey.)

From there, it was just a matter of mixing the gingerbread, letting it settle and harden in the fridge for twenty minutes, and rolling it flat to make the molds. My Daryl figurine was there to keep a watchful eye on things.

After the shapes were cut from the dough and stuck on a baking sheet, I only had to heat them up in the oven for about 10-15 minutes to get them warm and solid enough for decorating. As always- Daryl stayed vigilant.

Now, I’m no artist, and the decorating process was messy, to say the least- but I personally think the cookies came out rather (and unexpectedly) cute once the icing had dried. It’s hard to make gingerbread men look gory and scary- but I did my best!

The box made a total of ten cookies, and the entire process- mixing, baking, AND decorating- took just under an hour to complete. It was a lot of fun. Maybe not the most Christmas-y confection I could have whipped up, but fun nonetheless! Best of all? The cookies are delicious- although it felt a little weird biting into them when it’s usually the walkers biting into people.

If you’re in the mood to bake some unconventional gingerbread men of your own, or if you’re just as big a “Walking Dead” fan as I am and need something tasty to get you through the hiatus- you can purchase your own “The Walking Ginger-Dead” kit at Amazon for $11.25 by CLICKING HERE!

Thanks for the help, Daryl!