I love this recipe even more so because it has NO diary--they just don't spoil and they last forever. If you don't like to eat gingerbread, decorate with them (they smell terrific) you can hang on your tree and when your hungry pick one and eat it. I got this recipe from my mother-in-law about 23 years ago. Been making it ever sice(except I don't use chocolate frosting nor any frosting). I give them as gifts and people LOVE them. The house smells incredible while I'm baking them. My kids and husband LOVE them!!! You can make them so many different ways, if you want a crunchy cookie make sure you roll the dough about an 1/8th of an inch (I prefer them that way--YUMMY!)--if you want a puffy soft cookie (like my son)roll dough 1/4 of an inch. These are the BEST gingerbread cookies. Don't know what that other person was talking about it being the worse gingerbread cookie--they are VERY wrong!!! TIP: use exactly 7 cups of flour and 2/3rds of water--no more--when rolling out dough make sure you flour your hands and dough a bit--it works PERFECT. Don't use water on your hands or on the dough-- when you bake then--ROCK hard cookies. Yikes! Follow the directions exactly--and you will be fine.

This is a very tasty recipe. I had a hard time w/ the dough at first, a little dry, I just wet my hands with a little water while needing, until the dough became rollable, then it was great. Careful not too overbake, or they will become rock hard! But when they are baked just right, these where very very tasy!

There is something wrong with this recipe! No eggs? I'm not certain, but it tasted so bad, I threw out the entire batter, after only baking 1 tray of the cookies! Martha Stewart has a great one - using eggs and black pepper.

I subsituted butter for the shortening and took them out of the oven a little early (I like very soft cookies) and they were perfect!

Delicious recipe! Makes a whole lot of cookies. I rolled the dough into logs and cut them up into little circular cookies. You could probably roll jelly into the dough if you do this, though you'll want to chill them longer than two hours if you do, to make sure they stay firm while you're cutting them. You can substitute butter or margarine for shortening. You can also use maple syrup instead of molasses for a more subtle taste, and brush a thin sweet mixture of confectioners sugar and water over these cookies when you're done instead of using store-bought frosting, for a more authentic taste. =)

Followed this recipie to the letter and my husband says they are the most incredible gingerbread cookies he's ever had.

I followed the recipe but substituted the molasses with golden syrup (I didnt have any molasses)and shortening with butter - the cookies turned out great and have a lovely taste! This is the second time Ive made gingerbread in my short time spent cooking and I was impressed at how well they turned out! This is the recipe Im definately going to use whenever I make gingerbread! Thank you!

This is a long-time favorite in my family - I had it scribbled on the back of a 4-yr-old receipt, and searched to see if it had been published by anyone else and here it is. BUT the chocolate frosting is not included in my recipe (I would never add that, but that's just my preference). Instead, we glaze it with a confectioner's sugar and lemon juice/rind glaze.

This was my first try at Gingerbread. I have always enjoyed eating it in the past, so I thought it would be fun to make. This dough was very easy to work with and the cookies came out beautifully, but they didn't taste good at all. I wish I had taken some of the other advise and tasted some of the first ones baked and saved the work. WAY to much Molasses.

I have received rave reviews from other gingerbread fans this Christmas