- ¼ cup butter
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup molasses
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 cup flour
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Prepare 2 cookie sheets. Beat the butter with the sugar and molasses until creamy. Beat in the heavy cream. Sift the flour with the spices and baking soda and then beat into the butter mixture. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours. Flour a pastry board or work surface and roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness for thin delicate cookies, or to ¼-inch thickness for sturdy cookies to hang on the tree. Cut out different shapes with 2-inch cookie cutters.
- Make a small hole near the top of each cookie for hanging it from the tree with thread or ribbon. Gather scraps of dough into a ball, chill and re-roll. Transfer cookies to the sheets and bake them for 15 minutes for thin ones and 20 minutes for thicker ones. Cool on a cookie rack.
- Decorate the cookies with colored confectioners’ sugar paste, or multi-hued candies and sugar sprinkles. If you do not use them immediately, store in airtight tins.