In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter, shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy. With the mixer running, slowly add the eggs and molasses, and beat until well combined.
On low speed, add in the flour mixture, and mix until a soft dough is formed.
Divide the dough into two roughly equal pieces. Flatten into disks. Wrap tightly, and chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours or until firm enough to roll.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
On a lightly floured surface, with a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out half of the dough to ¼-inch thickness (keep the other half of the dough refrigerated until you are ready to roll).Dip your cookie cutters in flour, and cut out as many cookies as possible.*
Place cookies 1-inch apart on prepared baking sheets, and bake 10-12 minutes, until the edges are starting to brown.Leave cookies to cool on the pans for about five minutes, and then move to cooling racks until cool enough to frost.
Frost as desired with royal icing.
Notes
This is a soft dough, so keep unused dough portions in the refrigerator when you are not working with them.*If you are having trouble retaining shapes when transferring your cookies to the cookie sheets, roll and cut your cookies on a silicone baking mat. When done cutting, remove excess dough around your cookies, and place the entire silicone baking mat in the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes. Your cookies will now be easy to lift with a spatula and transfer without loosing shape.