Ingredients:

1 C. sugar
5/8 C. butter or shortening; (may use half butter and half shortening
1 egg, beaten
2 C. molasses
4 TB candied orange peel
cut fine
1TB grated lemon rind
6 C. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. bakers ammonia also called Hartshorn Baker(optional)
½ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp.ground nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod seeds scraped
½ tsp coriander or cardamom (optional)
¾ C. buttermilk
1 C. almonds, blanched and split into halves (for decoration)

egg wash. 1 beaten egg with a little milk

Directions;

1 .Cream sugar and butter or shortening

2. Stir in egg and molasses, and orange peel.

3 . Sift together the flour, soda, Bakers Ammonia and spices.

4 . Combine dry ingredients alternately with milk to molasses mixture.

5. Add more flour if neccesary to get a nice stiff dough that holds together and not real sticky.

6. Now let the dough age in a ziplock bag or a plastic container. My grandma (Oma) let it sit in a bowl on a high shelf covered with a towel for 6 weeks. Now let's make some cookies.

7. Pre Heat oven to 325 degrees
Roll out the dough and cut into a rectangle. I often use a ruler.
I like the thickness to be about 1/4 inch like that of a nickel.

8. Using the fluted pastry wheel I cut the dough into rectangles, and lift onto the greased baking sheet.
You can use several different tools to lift the cookies without mangling them. I like this dough scraper.

9. Keep a bit of spacing between the cookies and brush with egg wash.
Decorations;
After I brush with an egg wash I top them with an almond or a sliver of Marachino cherry or sometimes both.

10. Bake the cookies at 325 degrees for 20- 25 minutes until lightly browned.

Let cool.

Store the cookies in a cookie tin or plastic storage container.
. They improve with age. They firm up a bit and are very good to serve with coffee or tea.