Earlier this week, I started work on a platter of Thanksgiving cookies as a surprise for my lovely friend Marguerite, who is not a native of these shores, but has moved to this sceptred isle from America. I am fairly sure that she gets homesick at times, so I wanted to make an effort to spoil her on this day that is celebrated all over the US.

For the Thanksgiving cookies I had to use autumn spices, and nothing suggests autumn more than nutmeg and cinnamon. Throw in a little ground ginger, mixed spice and the rich deep flavour of molasses or black treacle, and you have a cookie that screams autumn.

This recipe is perfect for cut-out iced cookies as it keeps its shape really well, doesn’t rise too much, and stays crisp, yet deliciously melt-in-the-mouth.

Here are pictures of the individual cookies. Please click for larger versions.

Autumn Spice Sugar Cookies

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Ingredients

• 125g Salted Butter
• 125g Light Brown Muscovado Sugar
• 1g Vanilla Pod (or 1 tsp Vanilla Extract)
• 50g Molasses (or Black Treacle)
• 75g Golden Syrup
• 1 Large Free-range Egg
• 1 tablespoon Pumpkin Spice Mix
• 350g Plain Flour

Directions

1.	Cream together the butter, sugar and the vanilla seeds. Mix until the mixture is well combined
2.	Add in the egg, treacle and golden syrup and mix until combined
3.	Sift together the flour and spices, then add to the bowl a spoonful at a time with mixer on low speed
4.	Place dough onto cling film and flatted into a disk, then wrap tightly. Chill for 2 hours or until dough is firm
5.	Pre-heat oven to 180ºC / 350ºF / Gas Mark 4
6.	Roll out the dough on a well floured surface until about .5 cm thick
7.	Use your favourite cutter and place cut outs on a baking tray about a centimetre apart
8.	Bake for about 10-15 minutes depending on size, just until the edges start to colour
9.	Allow to fully cool on a cooling rack before decorating

Note

The dough can be frozen for up to 3 months if wrapped well, as can the baked cookies to decorate at a later date