Gingerbread cookies with royal icing

Cream the butter and brown sugar in a stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Sift the flour with the cinnamon, ginger and cloves.

Add the molasses and the water to the creamed butter and cream them in; stop and scrape down.

Add the sifted dry ingredients on low speed so the flour does not fly, scrape, then finish mixing. It looks like it will not come together and it does.

Divide the dough in half; roll one part and keep the rest back to blend the scrap into.

Flatten the dough into roughly the shape you want to finish with, dust the bench and the top with all-purpose flour, and roll to about half a centimetre, keeping the dough moving so it does not stick.

Roll thicker for a gingerbread house, thinner for cookies with more snap.

Brush the excess flour off the top and cut the shapes.

Chill the dough in the fridge and work with it cold so it lifts without falling apart.

Lay the shapes on a parchment-lined sheet pan.

Gather the scrap and blend it into the reserved dough rather than re-rolling it on its own.

Bake between 350F and 375F until browned around the edge.

Stir the royal icing, hold a cooled cookie by its edges, dip the face in, shake off the excess and let the surface level itself.

While the icing is still wet, scatter sprinkles or dragees; or drop the wet face into a thin layer of colored sugar on a plate.

Pipe buttons and a smile from a small paper cone.