Preheat oven to 350 F. Have ready two ungreased heavy duty baking sheets.

In a medium size saucepan, melt the butter over medium and continue cooking just until it starts to turn brown -- swirl often to keep it from burning. Remove from heat to cool slightly.

Meanwhile, thoroughly stir the flour, soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, black pepper and cayenne together in a mixing bowl.

Add the brown sugar and stir well to make a uniform dry mixture.

Make a hole in the center of the flour mixture and add the egg, molasses and lemon zest. With a fork or a whisk, mix the egg and the molasses together in the little hole, then use a mixing spoon and stir them into the flour.

Add the melted browned butter and stir to make dough. It should be thick and kind of oily.

Using a rounded teaspoon, shape dough into small balls – you should get about 32 total, so be careful not to make them too big. Roll the balls in sugar, arrange on baking sheet spacing about 2 inches apart, and bake one sheet at a time for 8 to 10 minutes at 350F. Dough should spread and crack. When cookies appear done, remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.