Gram's Ginger Cookies

For the holidays, an old recipe - my grandmother's. Not quite gingerbread, not quite ginger snaps, these cookies are ultra thin, crisp and addictive. She used to make them out of the bridge-party heart, club, diamond, and spade cookie cutters even at Christmas, but if this mystifies you as it does me, use a traditional gingerbread man cookie cutter.

The molasses give these an especially old-fashioned taste. I've seen no evidence of Brer Rabbit molasses around NYC, but other brands will do just as well.


Gram's Ginger Cookies

1 cup Brer Rabbit Molasses
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup melted unsalted butter
1 egg, beaten
pinch of baking soda
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons ginger
4 - 4 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting

Beat molasses until light, then beat in sugar, butter, egg, and dry ingredients. Add just enough flour to roll. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Dust a rolling pin and pastry cloth with plenty of flour and start to roll out a ball of dough. When it flattens into a good sized disc, pick it up and swish the underside in more flour from the pastry cloth, then move it back to center. Roll until extremely thin and cut with cookie cutters.

Bake each batch for just under 6 minutes, until the cookie edges just begin to brown. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.