Gingerbread Cookies

This post is a little late, as Christmas has come and gone - (Happy New Year, by the way), but I've only recently had time to upload all the wonderful baking/holiday-ing that transpired. My friend Heather and I had a fun, but short-lived tradition of baking gingerbread cookies together, then she sadly moved away, and I was left to bake alone. Never fear, however - since it was the season to make edible gifts for coworkers, my lovely and capable friend Ann-Louise stepped in, and we stirred up a storm of flour, brown sugar, ginger, and other spices that made my apartment smell heavenly for a looong time afterwards...

I'm one of those old grandmas who likes her gingerbread cookies plain, but, since these were for gifts, we went crazy with icing, gumdrops, M&Ms, and such. These are really spicy-tasting cookies, (I use blackstrap molasses instead of the lighter, more common variety), and will be delicious decorated or not. One other note - if it seems like a lot of butter, don't worry - this recipe yields a HUGE amount of cookies, and they taste very light...

Gingerbread Cookies
1 1/3 cups blackstrap molasses
1 1/3 cups packed dark brown sugar
2 Tbs. ground ginger
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
1 tsp. ground cloves
4 tsp. baking soda
2 cups (4 sticks) butter, cut into 1 Tbs. pieces
2 eggs, lightly beaten
8 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
decorating icing, candies, and cookie cutters

- In a large pot, bring molasses, brown sugar, and spices to a boil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, and remove from heat. Stir in baking soda, then stir in butter, 3 pieces at a time, letting each addition melt before adding the next, until all butter is melted. Add the eggs and stir until combined, then stir in flour and salt.

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead, dusting with as much flour as is needed to prevent sticking, until soft and easy to handle, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Halve dough, then wrap one half in plastic wrap and keep at room temperature.

- Roll out remaining dough into a 14" round on a lightly floured surface, (dough will be thick). Cut out as many cookies as possible with cutters and carefully transfer to 2 buttered large baking sheets, about 1" apart.

- Bake cookies in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until edges are slighlty darker, 10 to 12 minutes. (Every oven is different, so keep a close eye on them until you've figured out a good baking time). Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. Make more cookies with remaining dough. Decorate cooled cookies as desired.