Mrs Claus' Gingerbread Recipe

This recipe makes about thirty cookies. Preheat oven to 350 deg. Cream the
butter and brown sugar. Add molasses and continue to beat until
well-blended. Sift the flour, then sift it again with the soda, spices, and
salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir well.
Blend in the water until the mixture is smooth. Add the remaining flour
mixture, and mix until you have an even dough. Roll the dough onto a
greased cookie sheet with a floured rolling pin. Cut out shapes using
floured cookie cutters. When you have filled the cookie sheet with shapes,
peel away the dough around the shapes, and save that dough for your next
batch. Press raisins, fruits, or cookie decorations into each cookie to
give each cookie a unique look. Bake at 350deg for 8 minutes, or until the
cookies are firm. After the cookies have cooled on a rack, use decorator’s
icing to finish decorating each cookie. Notes: Before baking, poke an
opening at the top of each cookie to provide a hole for hanging. Bake and
decorate normally, then run 12-inch lengths of narrow ribbon through the
holes and hang the cookies from your Christmas tree. If you’d like to use
homemade icing instead of store-bought decorator’s icing, mix 1/4 cup of
confectioner’s sugar with a few drops of water. Use food coloring to make
differently colored icings. Spread the icing on the cookies using a knife
or a toothpick. Use your imagination!

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