Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, salt, allspice, cloves, pepper, and nutmeg on low speed to combine.
2. Add the butter to the mixer and mix on medium speed until the mixture is uniformly combined—it should look like the consistency of cornmeal. Add the egg and molasses and mix on low speed until an even dough forms, about 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Form the dough into 2 even disks, about 1 in/2.5 cm thick. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Bring to room temperature for 10 minutes.
4. Line four baking sheets with parchment paper, and have a few extra sheets of parchment paper ready. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper to ¼ in/6 mm thick. Peel the parchment away occasionally while you work to make sure it’s not sticking to the dough (you can use a little flour, but only if needed).
5. Use your favorite cookie cutter to cut shapes out of the chilled dough. Gently remove the excess dough, and press it back together. Transfer the cut shapes to the prepared baking sheets—the cookies can be fairly close (within about ½ in/1 cm), they won’t spread much. Stagger the rows of cookies to help fit as many cookies onto the baking sheet as possible (you may require more trays if you’re using lots of different shapes).
6. Press all the scrap dough into a 1 in/2.5 cm disk, and re-roll, chill, and cut as directed above.
7. Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C with the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.
8. Bake the trays of cookies in batches. While the cookies do not need to be chilled before baking, chilling them can help achieve more defined shapes, which can be helpful with more complex shapes. If you’re doing a simple shape—or like a softer/rounded/less defined look—chilling isn’t necessary. Bake until the cookies brown lightly around the edges and appear set, 8 to 10 minutes.
9. Cookies will be fragile when they first come out of the oven, so cool them on the baking sheets for a few minutes (3 to 5), then use a spatula to remove them to a cooling rack to cool completely.