Spicy Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

2 and 1/4 cups sifted whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
3/4 tsp baking soda (1/2 tsp if at altitude like here in Boulder)
1.5 TB ground ginger
1.5 TB cinnamon
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground cloves (I like to buy whole cloves and grind them by hand in a mortar and pestle)
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp sea salt
3/4 cup softened butter- I used freshly made butter from heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup un-sulfured molasses
1 large egg

Frosting Ingredients:

1 egg white
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground ginger
1 cup (or more) powdered sugar

In a large bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients. In your KitchenAid mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and molasses. Then, add the egg and beat until smooth. Next, mix in the dry ingredients. Transfer this to plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours up until over night.

When you are ready to make your cookies, let the dough sit at room temp for 20-30 minutes before rolling it out. Preheat oven to 350.

I cut mine in fourths and rolled it out between two pieces of parchment paper. I used seasonal cookie cutters to make snow flakes.

Bake on parchment paper-lined trays for 10 minutes or so. Pay attention to the baking time since ovens vary. Remove them when the edges look done and your finger leaves a slight impression in the top but does not go through the cookie come out with batter on it. Remove the cookies from the tray and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Prepare the icing with the wire whisk attachment to your KitchenAid and beat until the icing is almost too stiff to turn the whisk. Scoop it all into a plastic sandwich bag, cut off a corner, and squeeze out onto your cookies as you like. I spread mine out with a spatula.