I love this recipe! I added a little more brown sugar, substituted with sifted whole-wheat flour, and baked for 15 minutes. They came out perfectly! Everyone loved them!

I love this recipe. I had no problems following it verbatim. Everyone always compliments the cookies when they try them.

Great recipe! I baked perfect cookies with it.

Before I made this recipe, I read all the comments and reviews and I was surprised because mine turned out great. I don't know if my oven is just really hot or if it's because it's small and narrow but whatever you do 350 F IS WAY TO HOT. I put mine on 150 C / 305 F for 12 MINS MAX. If you use 350 F for 20 mins you'll end up with rock hard hockey pucks. I also made 2 batches: one with the black pepper and one without. The black pepper really helps give the other spices a kick and brings out the flavors. I wouldn't eat too many in one sitting though! With the other batch I substituted nutmeg for black pepper. They were also great but with less of a spicy kick to them. I also used table salt and 1/2 of what the recipe recommended. Make sure the dough is not sticky before you put it in the fridge. You might need to kneed the last bit of flour in with your hands. Overall, VERY GOOD cookies and royal icing also helps the flavor. These are not sweet, sugary cookies. They are spicy and tangy.

This recipe is perfect as is, have been making it for years! Mine bake for 15-20 minutes as the cutters I use are quite large and oven temps vary. Don't want them to burn? Watch them!

The recipe doesn't say how long to bake these. I found 8 minutes to be good, but depending on your oven, I'd suggest checking them at 7. I felt like I could definitely taste the pepper and might use half the amount next time. I'm not really a gingerbread fan, but these taste good and the Royal Icing tones down the spicy taste a little.

It does not say how long to bake the cookies. I didn't discover this until I had already made the dough and put it on cookie sheets, so had to guess at the time. I remember last year the time was included, but it appears something is wrong with the page now.

Love this recipe. Easy to follow and my friends and family love them. Thank you, Martha.

Wonderfully excellent cookies from start to finish. Thank you for a receipe that actually tastes like it looks!

PLEASE tell us how to find the templates for these adorable cookies! I love the girl's dress with pockets! Pam