The Best Gingerbread Cookie Recipe
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter (3 sticks), softened
1 cup brown sugar (light brown, or dark would be fine)
2 large eggs
1 cup molasses
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
2 tsp. ground ginger
5 cups all-purpose flour
In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated.
Add molasses. Mix.
In a separate bowl, combine the soda, salt, spices, and flour. Add to the wet mixture. Mix until smooth.
Before you roll out the dough, you need to let the dough chill for a couple hours. Before I put my dough in the fridge, I like to split it up, flatten it on a piece of plastic wrap, wrap it up, and stick it the fridge. This makes rolling out the chilled dough a little easier because it's ready to go.
Once your dough has chilled, roll it out on a floured countertop until it's about 1/4 inch thick.
Cut into desired shapes. This is my boys' favorite part of the process, right up there with eating the dough.
While you're doing this, you should also be preheating your oven to 350 degrees.
On a lined or greased baking sheet, bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. It can be a little tricky to tell when they're done (wait until they're golden brown?). Just mess up one of the uglier cut-outs to test for doneness.
Let the cookies cool on wire racks before you decorate decorate with frosting, candy, and/or sprinkles.
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