Honey-Gingerbread Cookies

Martha Stewart, December 2007 These are great for for gingerbread men and houses! Martha says, "These gingerbread cookies include a generous amount of honey, which gives them a pale golden color and a mildly sweet flavor."

• Ready In: 1 hr 40 mins
• Yields: 6 dozen men

Ingredients

• 5 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1  teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
• 4  teaspoons ground ginger
• 4  teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1  teaspoon  freshly grated nutmeg
• 1  cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1  cup granulated sugar
• 2  large eggs
• 1  cup honey
• 1⁄2 cup unsulphured molasses

Directions

1. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in a medium bowl.
2. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in molasses. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Divide dough into 3 portions, and and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a floured piece of parchment, roll dough to 1/4 inch thick. Slide dough and parchment onto baking sheets, and freeze for 15 minutes. (This makes the dough much easier to work with).
4. Add a little flour to your cookie cutters and cut out desired shapes. Be sure to clean off the edges of the cutter after each application. Transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets, and freeze for 15 minutes.
5. Bake cookies for 6 minutes. Remove sheets from oven, and tap them firmly on counter to flatten cookies. Return to oven, rotating sheets, and bake until crisp but not darkened, 6 to 8 minutes more. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
6. Let cookies stand at room temperature until set, at least 2 hours or overnight.