Sweet holiday aroma: Gingerbread cookies

Nothing says Christmas like the aroma of ginger. One of my favorite holiday traditions is baking cutout cookies, and today it was bitter cold outside, so I stayed inside and baked about 5 dozen gingerbread cutouts. These taste so good with coffee or hot cider or a steaming cup of cocoa.

I don't do anything fancy when it comes to icing cookies. I mix just a few drops of milk into a cup of powdered sugar and mix that with a fork. Then I spread this icing on my cooled cookies. I don't usually add food coloring, but I like to sprinkle iced cookies with colored green and red sugar.

This recipe, from "Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook" produces a pretty dry dough that can be a little crumbly when you try to roll it. Work the chilled dough with your hands a bit to make it easier to handle before rolling out. Double this recipe so you'll have plenty of cookies to decorate. These freeze well too. I froze most of what I made today to decorate later.

Gingerbread cutout cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Beat shortening on high speed with electric mixer 30 seconds. Add half the flour, and all remaining ingredients. Beat 'til thoroughly combined. Beat in the rest of the flour. Form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill at least three hours.

Divide dough in half. On a flour piece of waxed paper, flatten dough with your hand. Then roll it out to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired cookie cutter shapes. Place 1 inch apart on a parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake in 350-degree convection oven for 5 or 6 minutes (375 degrees for conventional oven), 'til edges are slightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for a minute, then cool on a wire rack. Wait to spread on icing 'til the cookies are completely cool. Makes 36-48, according to the cookbook.