Bästa pepparkaksdegen ever!!!!

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of all purpose flour (+ extra for kneading)
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 cup of unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup of dark brown sugar, packed
• 4 teaspoon each of ground ginger and ground cinnamon
• 1 ½ teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 1 ½ teaspoon of salt
• 1 ½ cup of dark unsulfured molasses
• 2 large eggs

Directions - Phase 1 - Making Dough:

1. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder together and set aside.
2. In a separate large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until the mixture is fluffy. Add ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and salt. Beat in molasses and eggs.
3. Mix the dry into the wet ingredients just until well-combined.
4. Divide the dough into thirds and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least one hour (or overnight works even better!) Tip:Once you've placed roughly 1/3 of the dough in the center of a large piece of plastic wrap, wrap tightly and then gently press to form a round, disc-like shape. This disc shape helps immenseley when you roll out the dough later as it's already in a nice, round, flat shape.

Directions - Phase 2 - Rolling, Cutting, and Baking Dough:

1. After at least an hour in the refrigerator, heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Roll out dough on a well-floured surface. You are looking for about ¼ of an inch in thickness.
3. NOTE: If your gingerbread is extra sticky, you will likely need to knead in extra flour in small amounts until the consistency is right (or try refrigerating longer!) That will help with much of the stickiness. Humidity and room temperature can make a big difference here, so just plan to add flour until it becomes less sticky. And, of course, flour your hands before kneading or ANY gingerbread will be sticky!
4. Use your pattern cut outs to help you to cut out the right sized parts for the gingerbread houses.
5. Place gingerbread cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and, ideally, chill for about 15 minutes to firm. (Don't stress if you don't have room in your refrigerator for this step. It just helps the cookies retain their shapes a bit better.)
6. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F or until slightly firm. Cool completely.