**Gingerbread Cookies**

(Recipe from… some collection of cookie recipes that came with a cd that I got as a gift one year and am too lazy to find out what it is called…)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and molasses until blended.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and allspice and stir until combined. Sift the flour mixture into the butter mixture and stir until blended. (I use the hand mixer for a little bit, I feel it mixes the ingredients much easier and quicker than I could by stirring.)

On a lightly floured surface, form the dough into a disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refridgerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days before rolling out. (In my experience, the dough is INCREDIBLY sticky at this point, so I ball it up in my hand, sprinkle flour on it until not so sticky, then place on the plastic wrap and press down into a disk on that. It’s still super sticky this way, but at least I don’t leave a big sticky mess on the lightly floured surface.)

Preheat the oven to 350F (175C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 1/4-inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut the dough into gingerbread people or other fun shapes. Transfer the figures to a baking sheet, placing them about 1 inch apart. (Again, the dough is always too sticky for me to easily roll out and cut shapes. I work with about 1/3 of the dough at a time, and have to repeatedly lift it up to re-flour underneath, or it sticks terribly to everything.)

Bake for 6 to 8 minutes (I stick to 6 minutes, 8 would be way too long, but this is for my oven), or until set. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Makes about 40 cookies.

**I love making the dough the day before. If I did this all in one day, I’d feel… exhausted and sick of making cookies, because it takes a while to roll out and cut all the cookies. Doing it over 2 days, it doesn’t seem like much effort at all. These are my favourite cookies, so yummy and spicy in a delicious amazing way. This year I used roasted ground ginger and the flavour is so bammed up it is awesome. LOVE!