Moravian Christmas Cookies

• Produce

  • 3/4 tsp Ginger

• Condiments

  • 1 cup Molasses

• Baking & Spices

  • 4 cups All-purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp Allspice
  • 3/4 tsp Baking soda
  • 1/2 cup Brown sugar, light firmly packed
  • 3/4 tsp Cinnamon
  • 3/4 tsp Cloves
  • 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 cup Shortening

Found on americanheritagecooking.com

Description

Ingredients

• ½ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon ginger
• ¾ teaspoon cloves
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• 1 cup molasses
• ½ cup shortening
• 4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

• In a medium bowl whisk together the sugar, soda, salt and all the spices.
• In a medium saucepan heat the molasses just to the boiling point but do not boil. This doesn’t take very long so watch it.
• Stir in the shortening until perfectly smooth. Cool slightly.
• Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer or use a hand mixer to beat in the sugar mixture. Add a bit of the flour, stirring to combine. As soon as it starts to hold together in a sticky dough, scoop it out onto the well-floured counter. Your bench flour in this step is part of the 4 cups total flour.
• Knead in the flour with your hands until the dough holds together. I used about 3 ½ cups of flour. The dough will become very stiff and that is what you want!
• Roll into a ball and refrigerate until firm. I refrigerated it overnight.
• When you are ready to roll (ha! Sorry.), preheat oven to 375° and line several baking sheets with parchment.
• Cut off a portion of the dough and roll paper-thin on a well floured surface. Cut into 2 inch circles, I used the fluted cutter because that is how the cookies looked at Wake. A small offset spatula works well for lifting the delicate circles from the counter. Brush off any excess flour and place on lines baking sheet. They don’t spread at all, so I baked mine less than ½ inch apart.
• Bake 4 minutes; rotate tray; bake 2 more; cool on baking sheet; stack and repeat.
• I only baked one sheet at a time because my oven sucks and there is no such thing as a top third and a bottom third. Divide and conquer at your own risk.
• They bake and cool so fast that it really doesn’t slow you down.
• Store in an airtight container. Stored properly, they will keep for weeks. Possibly months, not sure because mine didnt last that long!