In a small bowl add 1/2 cup sugar and the 2 TBS orange zest, stir together, set aside for later
Stir the baking soda into the hot water, set aside
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Line cookie sheet with parchment paper
In a large mixing bowl cream together shortening and 3/4 cup sugar
Add orange extract to the creamed shortening and sugar
Mix in the ginger, cinnamon, cream of tarter, salt, and molasses
Stir in the vinegar
Stir in the hot water and baking soda - the vinegar will cause this to bubble up for a minute
Mix in 3 cups of flour
Mix in 1/2 cup of flour at a time until the dough holds form and you can roll it into a ball
Take 1 TBS of cookie dough and roll into a 1 inch ball
Now you can choose to roll your cookie dough ball in the orange zest sugar, coating completely
or roll your cookie dough ball in the finely chopped pecans
Set on cookie sheet
Continue until all the dough has been rolled into balls and dipped in orange zest or pecans
Flatten each cookie ball with a spoon so it looks like a small thumbprint
Bake for 8 minutes
Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes
Remove to cooling rack until completely cooled
Store in an airtight container