Instructions

This recipe calls for rest time in the refrigerator so you can wait to start the oven.

1. Cream together the vegetable shortening, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar in a medium bowl. Add in the egg and the unsulfered molasses, and combine thoroughly, making sure to clean down the sides of the bowl.
2. In a separate large bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, soda, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, and salt and whisk together.
3. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix the batter between each addition to incorporate the ingredients thoroughly. Scrape the bowl well and combine any of the batter stuck on the sides of the bowl back into the mixture.
4. Transfer the cookie dough into a small covered bowl and place it in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, line your cookie pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, and measure out your granulated sugar into a small bowl.
6. Scoop out about two tablespoons of dough per cookie, and roll into balls using your palms. Then, roll your balls in the sugar, making sure that each side is thoroughly covered.
7. Place balls onto the baking sheet, and lightly press down so that you have a thick 1″ round. This step allows the cookies to have more of the crinkled effect on the tops of the cookies. I placed six cookies on an 11×17 pan. These cookies spread quite a bit so I feel this is a safe distance between the cookies.
8. Place the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 9-11 minutes. Cool the cookies on the pan for about five minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to allow cooling the rest of the way.

To make the icing:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk until all ingredients are combined. If you need your icing to be smoother, add a splash of milk at a time until you get the correct consistency.
2. Use a spoon to drizzle icing on top of the cookies. If you prefer to have the whole top glazed. If you prefer more icing on your cookies than what I have shown, you will want to double the recipe as I had just enough to ice all 24 cookies.