1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup dark brown sugar, well packed
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 egg
3 1/2 cups pastry flour

Note: If you don't have pastry flour, combine 2 cups of all purpose flour with 1 1/2 cups of cake flour and sift together.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a medium saucepan, stir together molasses, sugar, ginger, cinnamon and salt; heat until the mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.

In a mixing bowl, using a wooden spoon, stir together flour, egg, and contents of saucepan. (An electric mixer can be used, but simply stirring the mixture together with a large spoon ensures that the flour won't have a chance to develop gluten and the cookies will be tender).

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours (or overnight). Just before using, allow to sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes or until dough is easy to handle.

Roll out on a lightly floured work surface or silicone mat until very thin (1/4-1/8 inch). Cut into strips and place on buttered or silicone baking sheets.

Bake until the edges of the cookies are beginning to lightly brown, watching carefully so as not to overbake, but try to avoid opening the oven too often. This will take an average of about 10 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies.

The temperature of some ovens tends to creep upward in subsequent batches, so if possible, have an oven thermometer inside the oven and reduce temperature, if necessary, to keep cookies from browning too quickly.

Note: Despite these precautions, if you become distracted and your cookies are overbaked, process them in a blender or food processor for a cookie crumb crust for your next pie or cheesecake.

Submitted by: CM