• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
• Add the egg, spices, and vanilla. Mix well.
• Mix in the molasses.
• IN A SEPARATE MEDIUM BOWL, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until it comes together in a smooth dough.
• Roll the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Put this in the fridge for at least an hour.

Bake Cookies:

• Heat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet or two with parchment paper.
• Take the dough out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes to get the chill out (just like pie crust).
• Roll dough out on a well-floured surface to about 1/4" thickness, cut into desired shapes, and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 11 minutes. (reduce this to 9-10 minutes if you don't want them crunchy)
• Gently smush the unused dough back into a ball, re-flour the counter if needed, and roll out again to cut the next batch. Continue until most or all of the dough is used. NOTE: Do not knead the dough more than necessary or add too much flour, it will make the cookies tough. Be gentle with it.
• Cool completely on racks before icing. The cookies will firm up as they cool - even if they seem a bit soft when straight out of the oven, they will crisp up in a few hours.