Spiced Brown Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 150 gm unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder .
• 1/4 tsp baking soda .
• 1/4 tsp salt .
• 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsps cinnamon ground
• 1 tsp nutmeg finely grated
• 1/2 tsp cloves ground
• 3/4 tsp ginger powdered dried
• 1/2 tsp anise seeds powdered
• 1/2 tsp black pepper finely crushed

Instructions

1. With a hand held electric mixer, cream together the sugar and butter until pale in colour and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix well. Sieve together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add this and the spices to the creamed mixture and beat till just combined. Do not overwork the dough. If the dough feels sticky, add a little more flour. If the dough seems dry, add a tsp or so of milk to get the right consistency.
2. Shape the dough into a disc, cover it with clingwrap and refrigerate the dough for about a couple of hours (or overnight), to make it easier to handle. Divide the dough into two and work with one portion at a time. Lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour and roll out the dough evenly to 1/4" thickness.
3. Press your PastryMade pin evenly into the dough pressing down with enough pressure to leave a somewhat deep imprint on the dough. If the pattern is not deep enough, it will disappear when the cookies puff up while baking. Make sure the pattern completely covers the surface of the rolled out dough.
4. Now use cookie cutters and cut out shapes leaving about an inch between them. Remove the excess dough and your cookies are already on the baking sheet, so you have no hassles with trying to transfer them! Place the cut out cookie dough in the fridge for about half an hour.
5. Then bake them at 180C (350F) for 10 to 15 minutes till the edges of the cookies look like theyu2019re browning. You need to watch for this really carefully, as the cookie dough is brown.
6. Let the cookies cool completely. They will be a bit soft when warm but will crisp up once they cool. Store them in airtight containers.