Gingerbread (For Cookies or a Gingerbread House)

This dough is very easy to work with. We use this gingerbread to make our annual gingerbread houses. One recipe makes 3 fair sized gingerbread houses. This is also works excellent for gingerbread people. From Good Housekeeping Dec 94

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 36
• Yields: 36 cookies

Ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 1⁄2 cup molasses
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons ginger
• 1  teaspoon allspice
• 1  teaspoon cinnamon
• 1  teaspoon clove
• 2  teaspoons baking soda
• 1⁄2 cup margarine
• 1  egg, beaten
• 3 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, heat sugar, molasses, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves to boiling, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove from heat; stir in soda (it will foam up).
3. Stir in margarine till melted.
4. With a fork, stir in egg, then flour.
5. On a floured surface, knead dough till mixed. Divide dough in half, wrap half with plastic wrap; set aside.
6. Roll half the dough, with a rolling pin, slightly thinner than 1/4 inch.
7. Cut with cutters.
8. Bake at 325F on a cookie sheet for 12 minutes; cool on a wire rack.
9. Makes about 3 dozen 3" gingerbread people.
10. NOTE: We make houses by cutting out our house design (the 2 sides of the roof, two sides, a front and a back of the house) on graph paper, and then placing the graph paper shapes on the dough and cutting the dough shapes out with a knife.