Joanne Fluke’s Gingerbread Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) softened, salted butter 

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup hot strong coffee

2/3 cup dark molasses

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2  1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

4 3/4 cups flour (DON’T SIFT IT — pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

In a large bowl, mix the softened butter with the white sugar.

Add the half-cup of hot strong coffee and then stir in the dark molasses.

Mix in the baking soda, salt, salt, ground ginger, ground cloves and cinnamon.  Stir well.

Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition.  Give everything a final stir and then cover your bowl with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, rack in the middle position.

Divide the dough into four parts for ease in rolling.  Roll out the first part of the dough on a floured board.  If you plan to use gingerbread men or reindeer-shaped cookie cutters, roll your dough out to 1/4 inch thick. (Arms and legs tend to snap off when you frost them if they’re rolled too thin.)  Otherwise roll your dough out to 1/8 inch thick.

Dip the cookie cutters in flour and cut out cookies, getting as many as you can from the the sheet of dough.  Use a metal spatula to remove the cookies from the rest of dough and place them on an UNGREASED cookie sheet.  Leave at least an inch and a half between cookies.

Once you’ve cut out your cookies, there will be leftover dough.  You can gather it into a ball, re-flour the board, and re-roll it.  (I’ve done this up to 3 times — the 4th time the dough got too stiff to roll well.)

If you want to use colored sugar or sprinkles to decorate, put it on NOW, before baking and press it down just a bit with your fingers or with a spatula.  If you’d rather frost the cookies, wait until they’re baked and completely cooled.

Bake 1/4 inch thick cookies at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.  Leave them on the sheet for a minute or two and then transfer them to a wire rack to complete cooling.

Bake 1/8 inch thick cookies at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.  Leave them on the cookie sheet for a minute or two and then transfer them to a wire rack to complete cooling

Cookie Icing

2 cups sifted confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)

1/8 tea. salt

1/2 tea. vanilla (or other flavoring)

1/4 cup cream

Mix up icing, adding a little more cream if it’s too thick and a little more powdered sugar if it’s too thin.

If you’d like to frost the cookies in different colors, divide the icing and put it in several small bowls.  Add drops of desired food coloring to each bowl.

Use a frosting knife, or use a brush to “paint” the cookies you’ve baked.

Yield: 3 to 4 dozen cookies made with small cutters, 2 to 3 dozen cookies made with large cookie cutters.