the most wonderful gingerbread cookies

🥘 Ingredients

• • all-purpose flour
• • baking powder
• • baking soda
• • salt
• • ground ginger
• • ground cinnamon
• • ground cloves
• • unsalted butter
• • dark brown sugar
• • egg
• • molasses
• • vanilla
• • lemon zest

📝 Instructions

1. 1 in a small bowl , whisk together flour , baking powder , baking soda , salt , ginger , cinnamon , and cloves until well blended
2. 2 in a large bowl beat butter , brown sugar , and egg on medium speed until well blended
3. 3 add molasses , vanilla , and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended
4. 4 gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth
5. 5 divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours
6. 6 preheat oven to 375 deg
7. 7 prepare baking sheets by lining with parchment paper
8. 8 preheat oven to 375
9. 9 grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper
10. 10 place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface
11. 11 sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin
12. 12 roll dough to a scant 1 / 4-inch thick
13. 13 use additional flour to avoid sticking
14. 14 cut out cookies with desired cutter-- the ginger bread man is our favorite of course
15. 15 space cookies 1 1 / 2-inches apart
16. 16 bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes
17. 17 remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack
18. 18 after cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like
19. 19 i usually brush them with a powdered sugar glaze when i am in a hurry , but they look wonderful decorated with royal icing