Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 6 cups flour 1 tsp soda 1/2 tsp baking powder ˝ pound unsalted butter 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed 4 tsp ground ginger 4 tsp ground cinnamon 1 ˝ tsp ground cloves 1 tsp finely ground black pepper 1 ˝ tsp salt 2 large eggs 1 cup molasses
Icing: 1 pound confectioners sugar (about 3 cups icing sugar) 5 tbsp meringue powder or 2 egg whites Scant ˝ cup water if using meringue powder, less if egg whites
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Directions: |
Directions:• In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. • With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Add flour mixture; combine on low speed. Divide dough in thirds; wrap in plastic. Chill for at least an hour.
Heat oven to 350˚F. On a floured work surface, roll dough 1/8” thick. (or thicker, as I don’t like them crispy) Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Transfer to ungreased baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm (15 minutes). Bake 8-10 minutes, or until crisp, but not darkened. Let cookies cool on wire racks, then decorate as desired.
Note: If cookies are to be hung on the tree, make a hole for the cord with a toothpick or chopstick as soon as they come out of the oven. Reinsert chopstick while decorating, so icing doesn’t fill the hole.
Combine icing sugar and meringue powder with electric mixer. Add the water drop by drop. The proper consistency will form a ribbon that, at the count of five, should disappear. Add paste food colouring, if desired.
To decorate the cookies, use a writing tip with a piping bag to outline the cookie shape first, then go inside and “flood” the cookies, but not so much that the icing runs over the edge. Spread out the icing inside with a toothpick. |