Snowflake Gingerbread Cookies

I've been meaning to make these little beauties for a while now, and finally I found the time! The warm fragrant notes of cinnamon, ginger, cloves and molasses lingered in the home for 2 days after! I took a spin on the icing and added ground almonds to the icing sugar. They are so pretty to look at my family is having a hard time eating them. They make wonderful gifts from the heart. Recipe below. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
3/4    cup softened unsalted butter
3/4    cup brown sugar
1/4    cup cooking molasses OR unsulphured molasses
1       egg (lightly beaten)
2 1/2 cups pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4    tsp salt
3       tsp ground cinnamon
3       tsp ground ginger
2       tsp ground cloves

Icing:
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
1/3 cup Ground Almonds
1    tablespoon softened butter
2    tablespoons Milk
Cream all ingredients together, add more milk if you want to use icing for flooding technique

Method:
Cream together butter, sugar, molasses and egg. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves, once sifted together add to creamed mixture of butter and sugars and mix well. Cover in saran wrap and refrigerate for one hour. It can also be frozen for future use. Roll out on slightly floured cutting board to 1/8 (3mm) in thickness, cut out desired shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake in preheated oven at 375F (190C) for five to six minutes until tan. Cool on rack. Makes 7 dozen 2 inch cookies.