Ingredients

• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

For decorating:

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Food coloring
• Colored sugar

Directions

To make dreidel trios:

Use a dreidel cookie cutter and cut out 3 cookies. Lay 1 on a greased sheet pan. Fanning out at an angle, with the handles overlapping at the top, lay 2 more dreidels next to the first one (it will look like a paper-doll effect). The handle is now 3 layers thick; press on it gently to thin it slightly and make it larger. Repeat with the remaining dough, rerolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make a hole in the handle about 1/8-inch wide, keeping in mind that the hole will shrink as the cookies bake. Bake until firm, 12 to 15 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Color some of your icing blue with food coloring, or use blue colored sugar and white icing together. Using a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip, pipe Hebrew letters or stars of David on the cookies' faces. Sprinkle the sugar on the icing while the icing is still wet. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string, or yarn for hanging.

To make ornaments:

Use any holiday-themed cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, rerolling the scraps as needed. If you plan to hang the cookies, use a toothpick to make holes in the dough about 1/8 inch wide, keeping in mind that the holes will shrink as the cookies bake. Bake until firm, 12 to 15 minutes, and let cool on the pan. Meanwhile, color some of your icing in festive colors with food coloring, or use colored sugars. Using a pastry bag fitted with the smallest plain tip, pipe a few colorful borders and decorations on the cookies. When set, add more lines of icing in white. Let the icing harden before threading the cookies onto wire, string, or yarn for hanging.