2/3 c. shortening
1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 lg. egg
3/4 c. dark molasses
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Cream first six ingredients. Add egg and mix thoroughly. Add molasses and mix again. Set aside. Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder together. Add to molasses mixture and blend well. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill 2 to 3 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out dough with floured rolling pin on floured pastry cloth to 1/8 or 1/4 inch thick. Cut out heart shapes. Gather unused scrap. Recut.

Transfer cookies with spatula to ungreased cookie sheet about 1/2 to 1 inch apart. Bake 10 minutes, making sure edges do not burn. Cool on rack completely before icing. Cookies may be soft when taken out, but will harden. Yield: 1 dozen 4 inch cookies.

ICING:

1 egg white
1 c. 10X sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Food coloring

Beat egg white, sugar and vanilla to desired consistency to paint on cookie. Outlining and decorating, the icing must be thick enough to pipe through a tube and hold its shape on cookie. Keep adding 10X sugar to get thicker consistency.