Ginger Orange Star Cookies

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/4 cup robust-flavored (dark) molasses
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing

• 1 1/2 cups (or more) powdered sugar
• 5 teaspoons water
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

For cookies:

Sift first 7 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add sugar and beat until well blended. Beat in molasses, egg yolk, orange peel, and vanilla. Add flour mixture and beat just until blended. Gather dough into ball. Divide into 4 pieces. Flatten each into disk. Wrap each in plastic and chill until cold and firm, at least 4 hours.

Position racks in top third and bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out 1 piece of dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Using 2 1/2- to 3-inch star-shaped cutter, cut out cookies. Transfer cookies to prepared sheets, spacing 1/2 inch apart (cookies spread very little). Gather scraps and reroll dough, cutting out more cookies. Bake cookies 5 minutes. Reverse baking sheets; bake until cookies are puffed and look slightly darker around edges, about 5 minutes longer. Cool cookies on sheets 2 minutes. Using thin metal spatula, transfer cookies to racks; cool. Repeat with remaining dough pieces.

For icing:

Sift 1 1/2 cups sugar into medium bowl. Add 5 teaspoons water and vanilla; whisk until smooth. Whisk in more sugar by tablespoonfuls, if necessary, until icing falls thickly off whisk. Spoon icing into pastry bag fitted with 1/16-inch plain round tip or resealable plastic bag (cut tip off bag). Pipe icing onto cookies. Let stand until icing is hard, at least 3 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight between sheets of waxed paper.)

I changed nothing in baking this recipe. Surprise! No, really. I did everything exactly as printed, and I liked the gingery flavor a lot, although for me, the orange didn’t really come through. The molasses lends a bit of a bite, keeping these from becoming too sweet, and the icing really does enhance the flavor, although I had to add a 6th teaspoon of water to get the right consistency.

I spooned the icing into a quart-size freezer bag and snipped off a tiny corner. These cookies don’t call for precision piping (thank God!), so I didn’t see any point in using a pastry bag or a tip. This method worked very well, despite the fact that piping is not one of my strong suits. (Have I mentioned that I am not a food stylist?)

If you haven’t seen my entries for Days 1 and 2, I’ll just repeat that, yes, once again, this is an extremely soft dough for a cut-out cookie. In fact, if you aren’t blinded by my expert piping skills (Hahahahahaha! I crack me up!), you might notice that a number of my stars more closely resemble Patrick of Spongebob Squarepants fame, than something you might top your tree with. It’s not my fault!

If I were to make this recipe again, I would probably roll them a little thicker than a 1/4″ and perhaps add another 1/4 cup of flour when mixing the dough.