• In a large stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the softened butter and brown sugar together on low speed until smooth and creamy. About 1 minute of mixing.
  1/2 cup unsalted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar
  
• Pour in the molasses, milk, and vanilla extract. Mix on low speed until well combined.
  1/4 cup molasses, 2 tablespoons whole milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda.
  2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda
• With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until just combined - the dough will look crumbly, but you should be able to roll a small amount into a ball without it falling apart. If the dough feels too dry, add a touch more milk; if it's too sticky, add a bit more flour.
  
• Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (or overnight). You can prepare the dough the night before if you'd like.
• Preheat your oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out your shapes using cookie cutters and place them on the prepared baking sheets.
  
• Bake for 7-8 minutes for softer cookies, or 9-10 minutes for crunchier cookies. If you're using smaller cutouts like stars or ornaments, decrease the bake time by 1-2 minutes.
• Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  

Eggless Royal Icing

• Once the cookies are completely cool, make the icing: combine the powdered sugar, water, and corn syrup in a large bowl and stir until smooth. Test the consistency by letting some icing drizzle off a spoon - it should settle back into the bowl within about 12 seconds.
  2 cups powdered sugar, 2-4 tablespoons water, 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• Transfer the icing to a Ziploc bag and snip off a very small corner (you can always cut more, but you can't undo a hole that's too big). Pipe your designs onto the cooled cookies and let the icing set before serving.