Gingerbread Cookies

Servings:

Cooking Time:

Ingredients:

• 5 - 5 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon ground
• 2 teaspoons powdered ginger
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg ground
• 1 teaspoon cloves ground
• 1 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 ¼ cups unsulphured molasses
• 2 eggs beaten

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 375° F.
• Thoroughly mix the flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
• Melt the shortening in a large saucepan and allow it to cool slightly.
• Add the molasses, sugar and eggs and mix well.
• Add 4 cups of the dry ingredients and mix again.
• Turn mixture onto lightly floured surface.
• Knead in remaining dry ingredients by hand. Add a little more flour, if necessary, to make the dough firm.
• Roll out on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness and cut out cookies.
• Bake 6-10 minutes for small to medium size cookies and 10-15 minutes for large cookies.

Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate if you're not going to use it right away. It should keep for a week. Remove it 3 hours before rolling to allow it to soften. You can substitute 1 ¼ cups of light corn syrup for the molasses to make Blonde Gingerbread.

To Make a Gingerbread House:

Double the recipe and when rolling out the dough, keep it about a ½-inch thicker. Cut into the shapes for a gingerbread house and bake for 10-15 minutes. Use Royal Icing to hold the house pieces together.