From cheese and chocolate to cookies and marshmallows, there are delicious edible dreidels for every taste!
🎶 Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,
🎵 I made it out of….. cheese?
It’s not Chanukah until you’ve lost your shirt playing high stakes dreidel, right? Well, maybe not quite. But this traditional spinning top game is certainly an essential part of our festive celebrations.
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What is a dreidel?
Dreidels are traditional 4-sided spinning tops that we play with on Chanukah. Each side has a different hebrew letter – נ (nun), ג (gimel), ה (hey) and ש (shin). These are the initial letters of the phrase nes gadol haya sham, which means ‘a great miracle happened there.’ The dreidel reminds us of the Chanukah miracle, when Jewish rebels defeated the Syrian-Greek army and rededicated the Temple.
In Israel, the ש (shin) is usually replaced with a letter פ (peh) as the phrase becomes nes gadol haya PO – a great miracle happened HERE. The dreidel is known as a sevivon in Hebrew (dreidel is the Yiddish name).
How do you play?
To play this traditional Chanukah game, you will need the following:
- A smooth, flat playing surface such as a tabletop or hard floor (not carpet).
- Chanukah gelt, sweets, nuts, pretzels or other tokens – at least a few per player.
- A dreidel (or more than one!)
First, divide the tokens equally between the players. At the start of the game, each player puts one token into the ‘pot’ – you can use an actual pot or just make a pile in the centre of the playing space.
Players then take turns to spin the dreidel!
Depending on which side is uppermost when it stops spinning, the player gains or loses some tokens from/into the pot.
- נ (nun) – do nothing.
- ג (gimel) – the player wins everything in the pot.
- ה (hey) – the player wins half of the tokens in the pot. If there are an odd number of pieces in the pot, then the player gets half the pot rounded up to the nearest whole number.
- ש (shin) or פ (peh) – the player must add one of their tokens to the pot. (If the player has no tokens left, they are either ‘out’ or may ask another player for a ‘loan’.)
If at any point the pot has one or fewer tokens in it, then each player must add one to the pot, before the next player takes their turn.
The game ends when everyone has had enough, or when all the tokens have been eaten!
Edible Dreidels
As well as playing with dreidels, we also love EATING dreidels! And there are so many different types of edible dreidels, I wanted to collect them all together here so you can choose the ones you fancy eating most.
Most of these edible dreidels are easy to make from standard pantry ingredients. At the end I’ve also shown how to create edible dreidels from just 2 ingredients – cheese & pretzel sticks!
Sweet and savoury edible dreidels
On this list you’ll find sweet dreidels, savoury dreidels, 3D dreidels and flat dreidels. Plus there are so many different flavours! I hope you enjoy noshing on at least one delicious edible dreidel this Chanukah.
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The best edible dreidels around…
1. Chanukah chocolate bark with white chocolate dreidels
2. Mulled apple juice with little apple dreidels
3. Dreidel-topped Chanukah mince pies
4. Caramel dreidels from Bible Belt Balabusta
5. Marshmallow edible dreidels from Bible Belt Balabusta
6. Dreidel cookies with a surprise from Couldn’t Be Parve
7. Mini dreidel Hanukkah cookies from Perspective Portions
8. Chocolate espresso spritz cookies from The Monday Box
9. Hannukah stained glass cookies from Living Sweet Moments
10. Dreidel rice crispy treats from NurtureStore
11. Grilled Nutella & banana edible dreidel sandwiches from Jamie Geller
12. Dreidel surprise loaf cake from the Spruce Eats
13. Dreidel ravioli from Chabad.org
14. Couldn’t-be-easier cheese & pretzel edible dreidels
📖 Recipe
Cheese and pretzel dreidels
Equipment
- Sharp knife
- Skewer or toothpick
Ingredients
- 200 g Firm waxy cheese e.g. gouda, edam or havarti (approx. 7 oz)
- 6-8 Pretzel sticks
Instructions
- Cut the cheese into 12 cubes, then cut the bottom corners to make dreidel shapes. (Save the cut off pieces to use in cheese sauce or similar). Break the pretzel sticks into 2-3cm (approx. 1 inch) lengths.
- Using a skewer or toothpick, carefull make a hole in the 'top' of the dreidel, then insert a piece of pretzel stick into the hole to make the dreidel's handle.
- Arrange on a plate, and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Happy spinning! And Happy Chanukah!
More fabulous Chanukah recipes!
For more information about dreidels, click here. I’m linking this post up with #CookBlogShare
Louise Fairweather
Great round up, thanks for sharing #cookblogshare
Helen
Thanks Louise – glad you enjoyed it!
Janice
This is such a fun post, so many different ways with the same iconic shape.
Helen
Thanks Janice! It’s amazing what you can make dreidel-shaped 😂
Rebecca - Glutarama
Well I’ve just learnt something new, what a wonderful tradition and these are amazing edible treats to honour it.
Helen
Thanks Rebecca! I’m glad you enjoyed my article 🙂
Kechi
This is such a fun and creative idea! I want to reach and help myself with some! 😂😂😂
Also, I love all the other fun edibles, especially the Chanuka Chocolate Bark!
Helen
Thanks Kechi! Everything’s good, so long as it’s chocolate, right?!
Katherine Hackworthy
So many creative edible dreidel recipes! These are awesome!
Helen
Thanks Katherine! It seems you can make edible dreidels from almost any kind of food – hooray!
Gina
These are so fun! I think the chocolate spritz cookies are my favorite.
Helen
Thanks Gina – I agree, they sound delicious!
Elizabeth
I absolutely love how educational your recipe posts are! This is such a fabulous read!
Helen
Thanks Elizabeth! That’s so nice to hear 😊
Danielle Wolter
What a fun idea! These would be perfect for our annual Hanukkah party!
Helen
Yay! Thanks Danielle! Wishing you a very happy Hanukkah 🙂