Daphne's Spice Cookies

It is Christmas Eve, so I thought I would post about some of the Christmas cookies that I made this year. You might have already read about the French Laundry Shortbread that I made a couple of weeks ago. Technically I didn't really make these cookies. I baked them, but they are Daphne's. I thought I would blog about them though anyway because they were really good. They are sort of like gingerbread, but not. A wider range of spices and molasses. The key though that makes them unlike any other cookie that I've had is the lard. Yes, lard. not butter. Not shortening. Lard. I'm not quite sure what it does compared with other fats, but these cookies are pretty great. When I rolled them, I made then slightly smaller than the one-inch balls that the recipe required, but I like the small size. Perfect with my morning espresso.