The Most Wonderful Gingerbread Cookies

This is my very favorite gingerbread cookie recipe. The dough is so firm and nice to work with and is so wonderful smelling that it is almost like a stress reliever. These disappear in lightning speed in my house! This recipe is adapted from a recipe in the Joy of Cooking and according to the entry they only have 3 grams of fat per cookie! If you want crisp cookies roll out very thin. Thicker cookies = softer cookies, thinner cookies= crisper cookies. If the dough is too sticky, chilling should help. **I noticed a lot of people have been having some sticky dough issues. You need to make sure you let the dough rest at LEAST two hours. For some reason this helps make the dough more workable. I live in FL and we have terrible humidity, but I have never had a problem with sticky dough in this recipe.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 23 mins
• Yields: 24 5inch tall cookies

Ingredients

• 3  cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1  tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 3⁄4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 6  tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3⁄4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1  large egg
• 1⁄2 cup molasses
• 2  teaspoons vanilla
• 1  teaspoon  finely grated lemon zest (optional)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
2. In a large bowl (KitchenAid's great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
3. Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.
4. Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
5. Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 375 deg. Prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.
7. (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 375°.
8. Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
9. Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
10. Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
11. Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
12. Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
13. Cut out cookies with desired cutter-- the ginger bread man is our favorite of course.
14. Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
15. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies-- very good!).
16. Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.
17. After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like.
18. I usually brush them with a powdered sugar glaze when I am in a hurry, but they look wonderful decorated with Royal icing.