 | | Directions | COOKIES:
- Combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and baking soda in a bowl. Stir with a wire whisk to mix ingredients. Set aside to use later.
- Cream the brown sugar and butter together in a mixing bowl until fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then add the molasses. Beat until well incorporated.
- Add one third of the dry ingredients and beat into the mixture. Add the remaining ingredients, one third at a time.
- If the dough is getting too stiff when you add the last third, stir it in by hand. Stir only until ingredients are evenly mixed.
- Divide the dough into two halves. Flatten each half into a thick disk, cover with plastic and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
- After the dough is chilled, remove one disk from the refrigerator and place it on a floured work surface.
- Roll the dough out with a lightly floured rolling pin until the dough is 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.
- Cut out the cookies with the cookie cutters, cutting the cookies out as close as possible to each other.
- Lift cookies with a spatula and place them on a lightly grease cookie sheet or a sheet lined with parchment paper. Space cookies about 1 inch apart to allow for expansion.
- Gather the scrap pieces and roll them out to cut more cookies. Use as little additional flour as possible.
- Place the cookie sheet in an oven preheated to 350°F and bake for 10 minutes or just until the edges start to brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before removing.
- Remove using a spatula to lift them off from the cookie sheet and place them on a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before decorating.
FROSTING:
- Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and 2 tbsp. of half & half in a mixing bowl and beat until well blended.
- Add the remaining half & half one tablespoon at a time. Add the half & half until the frosting is smooth and the desired consistency. You may not need the entire amount of half & half to get desired thickness.
- If decorating with different colors of icing, divide the icing into smaller batches and add food coloring to achieve desired colors.
- Use a pastry bag to decorate the cookies. If you do not have a pastry bag for decorating, you can use a small bag. Put frosting in one corner and then trim the corner just slightly. Squeeze the frosting through the hole and decorate the cookies.
- The gingerbread cookies can be decorated in any manner you desire. Allow frosting to harden slightly before storing in an airtight container.
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Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Container: Cookie sheets
Servings: 24
Serving Size: 1 each
|  | | Ingredients | | - | | COOKIES: |
| - | | 4 cups flour |
| - | | 2 teaspoons ginger |
| - | | 1 tablespoon cinnamon |
| - | | 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves |
| - | | 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda |
| - | | 1/2 cup brown sugar - light |
| - | | 1/2 cup butter - softened |
| - | | 2 egg |
| - | | 3/4 cup molasses |
| - | | FROSTING: |
| - | | 4 cups powdered sugar |
| - | | 1 teaspoon vanilla |
| - | | 5 tablespoons half-n-half |
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