gingerbread straws

Ingredients

• Servings: 56
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup water
• 12 tablespoons softened butter
• 1 cup light or dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

Recipe

• mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt and baking soda in a bowl. in a separate bowl, mix molasses and water.
• in a large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. beat in molasses mixture, then dry ingredients, to form stiff dough; if dough is sticky, add up to 1/4 cup more flour.
• quarter the dough, form each portion into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. (can be refrigerated up to 1 week or frozen up to 1 month.)
• heat oven to 350 degrees.
• on a heavily floured work surface, roll 1 portion of dough into a 9-by-7-inch rectangle. sprinkle dough with 1 tb. sugar; use rolling pin to press sugar into dough. cut dough (preferably with a fluted-edge pastry cutter) into 9-by-1/2-inch sticks. place sticks about 1/2-inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. bake on middle rack until done, 18 to 22 minutes; after 10 minutes, rotate sheet from back to front. repeat with remaining dough in batches.