Yield: 48 Servings
| Measure | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| ---For dough--- | |
| ⅓ cup | Packed dark brown sugar |
| ⅓ cup | Unsalted butter; softened |
| ⅔ cup | Light molasses |
| 1 | Egg |
| 2 teaspoons | Grated fresh orange peel |
| 2¾ cup | All-purpose flour; plus more to roll out dough |
| 1 teaspoon | Ground ginger |
| ½ teaspoon | Baking soda |
| ½ teaspoon | Salt -For frosting--- |
| 4 cups | Powdered sugar |
| ½ cup | Unsalted butter; softened |
| 3 tablespoons | Milk; (3 to 4) |
| 2 teaspoons | Vanilla |
| Food color |
To prepare dough: In large mixer bowl, combine brown sugar, butter, molasses, egg and orange peel. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until smooth and creamy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add 2¾ cups flour, ginger, baking soda and salt. Reduce speed to low. Continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed, about 1 to 2 minutes. Cover; refrigerate at least 2 hours.
On well-floured surface, roll out dough, half at a time, to ¼-inch thickness. (Keep remaining dough refrigerated.) Cut with 3- to 4-inch cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on well-greased cookie sheets. If cookies are to be hung as decorations, make a hole in each, ¼ inch from top with end of plastic straw. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven 6 to 8 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched. Remove to racks and let cool completely.
To prepare frosting: In small mixer bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, milk and vanilla. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, 1 to 2 minutes or until fluffy. If desired, beat in a few drops of food color. Decorate cookies with frosting.
Yield: 4 dozen cookies.
Tester's notes: These can be frozen. Store in an airtight container. The flavor increases with age. This is a winner for flavor and texture. I recommend this recipe highly.
Recipe adapted from Land O'Lakes.
Recipe by: St. Louis Post-Dispatch 12/5/94 Posted to MC-Recipe Digest by Nancy Berry <nlberry@...> on Feb 16, 1998