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Decoration: Gingerbread for Structures

Source of Recipe

The Polka Dot Palace BBS


List of Ingredients

2/3 cup Shortening
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Blackstrap molasses
1 Egg
3 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking soda
1 teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Ginger
1 teaspoon Cloves
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg


Recipe

Cream shortening and sugar. Add molasses and egg; beat thoroughly. Sift together remaining ingredients and add to liquid mixture. Mix well. If dough does not come together, add water as necessary. (Dough tends to be stiff.) Roll to 1/2" thick and cut pattern for desired structure. Bake at 350¼F for 15-18 minutes. Be very careful when removing from baking sheets to cooling rack. Let cool thoroughly, then assemble using Royal icing (2 egg whites, 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar, 1/2 to 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 lb. confectioners sugar. Beat until stiff.)

A couple of things: Roll out the dough right on the cookie sheets, cut your pieces, and peel away the extra dough. A lot easier than trying to transfer the pieces from rolling board to sheets. Leave some space between pieces; this dough tends to spread a bit. It also has a tendency to crack a little when you take it off the baking sheet if you use a small spatula to move it. I went out and invested in one with a 5"x3" blade. The cookie isn't too sweet, but nice and spicy (notes are per original poster)