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Ingredients
1 cup dark molasses
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 large egg
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
5 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Meringue Icing
Assorted candies for decoration
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves



Using electric mixer, cream butter and sugar in large bowl. Mix in molasses and eggs. Be sure and scrape down the side of the bowl. Mix in ginger, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Mix in 2 cups flour at low speed until will blended, scraping down side of bowl. Gradually beat in remaining flour to form a stiff dough.

Separate dough into two equal parts and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour. Place ? of the dough on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Roll dough to approximately ? inch thick. It?s important to cut the dough while it?s on the cookie sheet because if you roll it on the counter, cut it out, and then lift the piece to put on the cookie sheet the dough will stretch and lose its shape. By cutting it on the cookie sheet you can remove the excess dough and leave the pieces of the house undisturbed.

Efficiently position pattern pieces on dough and cut out pattern with a sharp knife. Remove the excess dough and wrap in plastic.

Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes. Test by gently pressing on cookie. If it leaves no impression, remove from oven and allow to cool. If the cookie is still soft after cooling, return to 250 degree oven for an additional 10 to 20 minutes. Watch the dough carefully to make sure it doesn?t over cook. Cool completely on wire rack.

Assemble the house by piping a generous amount of frosting along the edges of the pieces and pressing them into place You may want to use some cans of vegetables to help hold the pieces in place while they dry.

For the house base, (the yard) cut a piece of cardboard and frost the entire surface with the meringue icing. Position the house on the base before the frosting dries. Decorate the house by gluing candy (frosting is the glue) to the structure. Necco wafers make great shingles but they?re sometimes hard to find. I found them at the Dollar Tree. Gum drops make a perfect hedge and walk way. I made the trees by making a batch of meringue frosting and adding green food coloring then frosted ice cream cones and positioned them around the house.

This recipe is also a great for making gingerbread men for either using as tree ornaments or for dunking in coffee!

Pattern

Right click this link and select "save target as" or "save link as" from the popup menu to save the file to your computer.