Directions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together dry ingredients. Add butter and mix well. Add molasses and milk, and mix to combine thoroughly. Divide dough in half or quarters and roll to desired thickness (1/4” to 1/8”) between two pieces of parchment paper or plastic wrap. Set aside on cookie sheets to chill in refrigerator or freeze for 15 minutes, until dough is stiff.
   

2. Preheat oven to 350°. Working with one cookie sheet at a time, remove from refrigerator, remove top sheet, cut out cookies, and remove excess dough. It is fine to re-roll the dough leftover from cutting out the cookies; gather scraps together, push into a ball of dough, re-roll and cut immediately so dough does not warm up too much. If it does, chill the re-rolled dough before cutting out the shapes.
   

3. Place cookies on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-12 minutes until just before edges begin to brown for soft cookies. For crispy cookies, roll thinner or bake longer; adjust baking times to suit your taste.
   

4. If you are making these to use as decorations, you will need to cut them ¼” thick and cook until crisp, 10 to 14 minutes, or they will be too wobbly to stand up. Carefully poke a small hole in the tops of the cookies with a wooden skewer as soon as they come out of the oven if you want to hang them with ribbon.