Gingerbread Cookies for Hanukkah

Get the recipe for these Hanukkah gingerbread cookies, a delicious nut-free parve dessert for your holiday table, taken from "The Holiday Kosher Baker" by Paula Shoyer.

I thought this recipe would be easy to develop, but after two different friends tested the recipe and both pronounced it not spicy enough, I worked hard to create a full-flavored gingerbread cookie. The aleph-bet cookie cutters shown here are from thekoshercook.com.

Makes 30 three-inch cookies

Ingredients

For the dough:

¾ cup (1½ sticks) margarine

¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

½ cup unsulfured blackstrap molasses

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cinnamon

4 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground allspice

For the glaze:

½ cup confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon boiling water

Directions

1. Place the margarine and brown sugar in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer or by hand with a wooden spoon until creamy. Add the egg, molasses, and vanilla and beat until mixed in.

2. Add 2 cups of the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon; if you are using an electric mixer, mix carefully so the flour does not dust your face. Add the last cup of flour and mix until combined. The dough will be gooey.

3. Place two large pieces of plastic wrap on your counter. Place half of the dough on one piece of plastic and the remaining half on the other. For each half of the dough, fold the plastic over the dough and then flatten it into a pancake, about ½- to 1-inch thick. Freeze overnight.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F.

5. Remove one disc of dough from the freezer and let it sit for 5 minutes; you want to roll it out while it is just barely soft enough to roll. You will need to bake in batches. Take two pieces of parchment and sprinkle a little flour on one, place dough on top and then dust with a little more flour. Place the second piece of parchment on top of the dough and roll on top of the parchment to roll out the dough until it is a little thicker than ¼-inch thick; do not roll too thin. Every few rolls, peel back the top parchment and sprinkle a little more flour on the dough from about 10 inches high, so you do not get big white spots on the dough. Remove the top parchment and use it to line a cookie sheet. Line another cookie sheet with fresh parchment.