5 c All-purpose flour; plus more
1 tb Cinnamon
1 tb Ground ginger
2 ts Ground allspice
2 ts Ground cloves
2 ts Baking soda
2 ts Salt
1 1/2 c Molasses
1 c Dark brown sugar
1/2 c Vegetable shortening;
-melted, cooled
1/2 c Unsalted butter; melted,
-cooled
In a large mixing bowl, sift together 1 cup flour, spices, baking soda, and
salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle
attachment, combine the molasses and brown sugar; beat until well-combined.
Add the vegetable shortening and butter. On low speed, add the dry
ingredients, a little at a time, to form a stiff dough. Divide the dough in
half. Place each half of dough on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into a
rectangle, and chill in the refrigerator overnight. Begin with one half of
the dough, and divide the rectangle into quarters. Working on a lightly
floured baking mat, roll out one of the quarters as thin as possible, until
it’s almost translucent, to completely cover the baking mat. Trim the
edges, forming the dough into a perfect rectangle. Keep the remaining
quarters refrigerated. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Place the rolled-out dough
and the baking mat on a pan. Bake 10 minutes, rotate the pan, and continue
baking for 4 more minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven, and, using a
cookie cutter, quickly stamp out as many as you can before the dough cools.
Transfer the stamped-out cookies to a wire rack to cool. If dough becomes
too hard to stamp, reheat it in the oven for 45 to 60 seconds, and continue
stamping out the cookies. Repeat the process until all cookies have been
stamped out of the dough. Makes about 375 very thin cookies.
Yields
375 servings