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• 1 cup shortening (margarine or Crisco according to the original recipe, but butter is divine and they'll just turn out bit flatter)
• 2 cups sugar, with extra for "rolling"
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup mild, unsulphured molasses (I use Grandma's)
• 4 cups unsifted flour
• 3 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• A teaberry for each cookie (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream shortening and 2 cups sugar. Add the eggs and beat until fluffy. Mix in the molasses. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to shortening mixture and beat until smooth.

Roll into small, walnut-sized balls. Roll in a shallow dish of the extra granulated sugar until coated and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Put a teaberry in the center of each ball. Press slightly so it won't roll off. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 -15 minutes. (Don't overbake - they should be chewy in the center.)

Makes 7 dozen cookies.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies
From The Fannie Farmer Baking Book, page 206. Makes about 45 cookies.

• 3 ounces (3 squares) unsweetened chocolate
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick or 1/2 cup) butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons powdered instant coffee
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 cups (12 ounce) semisweet chocolate morsels

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the chocolate in a small cup or bowl set in a pan of simmering water, stirring often until smooth. Set aside to cool.

Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and powdered instant coffee and mix well. Beat in the melted chocolate. Stir and toss the flour, soda, and salt together and add them to the chocolate mixture, beating until completely blended. Stir in the chocolate morsels.

Drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 1 inch apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for about 10 minutes, until they have spread slightly and the tops look dry. Remove from the oven and transfer to racks to cool.

Citrus Sugar Cookies
With permission from King Arthur Flour

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia*
• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• granulated sugar or decorative sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the shortening and sugar till smooth. Add the egg and the Fiori di Sicilia, again beating till smooth.

Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the wet ingredients, and beat until the mixture forms a cohesive dough. Shape the dough into walnut-sized balls, and shake them in a plastic bag (or roll them in a pan) with granulated sugar or coarse sugar, until they're thoroughly coated. Place the balls, 2 inches apart, on lightly greased cookie sheets. Using the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar, flatten the balls to about 2 inches in diameter, about 3/8-inch thick. If you want a more shiny-sugary, cracked appearance atop the cookies, flatten them out, brush them with a bit of water, then sprinkle with additional sugar.

Bake the cookies in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they're a VERY light golden brown around the edges. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a wire rack. As they cool, they'll become crisp. If you want them to remain crisp, store them in an airtight container when they're totally cool. If you want them to get a bit chewy, leave them uncovered, or store in a bag with a slice of apple or a brown sugar softener.

Yield about 20 to 24 large (3-inch) cookies.

*Fiori de Sicilia and all citrus oils STAIN. Use caution and non-porous tools and mixing bowls.

Sand Tarts
This easy to work with dough can (and should) be rolled very thin. For a variation, I like to reduce the vanilla to one teaspoon and add one tsp. of either orange or lemon Boyajian oil to the dough and 1/2 tsp. to the decorator icing.

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 4 cups flour, sifted
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and the sugar together in a large bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla - beat until fluffy. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. At low speed, add the dry mixture to the creamed mixer and mix until incorporated.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8" thickness and cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet and bake approximately 8 minutes or until edges of cookies are just beginning to turn a light brown. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack (or just slide the cookies, parchment and all!) and cool completely before decorating.

Easy Cookie Icing
Although this icing pipes very well, it can also be thinned with a bit of hot water and used as a glaze. Vary the flavoring as desired with orange or lemon oils or even almond extract.

• 3 tablespoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoons citrus oil or almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 3/4 - 3 cups powdered sugar
• gel or paste food coloring

Mix water, extracts and salt in small bowl. Whisk in enough powdered sugar to form icing thick enough to pipe.

For the most successful color, use a paste or gel color rather than a liquid food color which may make the icing too runny and doesn't provide as intense of a color. Divide icing into several cups and stir in colors as desired. Pipe onto cookies with the small tip of a pastry tube. Quickly sprinkle the wet icing with desired decorations and allow to dry thoroughly before storing in an airtight container.

Marzipan Cookies
This dough is moldable into various shapes. To make little rabbits to scamper throught the snow of royal icing that surrounds my gingerbread houses, etc...I make an egg-like form, chill and bake. Then, while they are still warm, I carefully insert two whole almonds near the tapered end to form ears. The trick is to make the indentations that will hold them, but not to worry if they fall out at this point. When cool, remove the almonds, coat the cookies in melted chocolate (semisweet chocolate chips work fine for this, no need to be fancy), re-insert the almond ears into the indentations and, with a small tip and some white icing, add eyes and a tiny white bunny tail.

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• optional food color paste

Cream butter and sugar until light. Mix in almond extract and food color paste, if desired.

Mix in the flour until dough stops clinging to the sides of the bowl and forms a rough ball. Shape as desired, chill for 30 minutes and bake, at 300 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Do not brown these cookies.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Royal Icing
Amazing stuff. I'd never worked with it before Cindy sent a Christmas Tree made out of cookies that needed a bit of repair. Now it's the new coating for gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies meant to withstand time or shipping. Sets hard but not so hard it breaks your teeth. Bright white in its natural form. - Joy

• 4 egg whites
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract or clear vanilla extract

Beat egg whites in clean, large bowl with mixer at high speed until foamy. (Be sure to select fresh eggs with uncracked shells.) Gradually add sugar and extract, beating at high speed until thickened.

Chewy Noels
A super easy bar cookie from my grandmother, best served warm.