More Christmas Cookies

After another busy day of baking cookies I discovered some horrible news about the death of a young man with a big personality in our community. My cookie baking endeavor seemed so trite and unimportant in the shadow of that loss. Many of the emotions of my husband's death came rushing back as that news became real. Later in the evening one of my good friends put it into perspective for me by saying that my cookie baking was not insignificant, that we need beauty and delicious in our insane and painful world. She helped me keep my focus on the hope of heaven, that beautiful gift of our Savior which we celebrate this season. So, on we go, living in this sinful world, but keeping our eyes on heaven, our real home with our glorious God and Father.

That was last night. The news is still reality, but celebrating is reality, too. We had a beautiful cantata sung in church this morning, the Sunday School children did a delightful little program, we had a church fellowship lunch and all the while the beautiful white snow was falling and blowing around. I came home, turned on the carols and the oven and the baking continued!

Chocolate Cutout Cookies

1 1/2 c. flour

3/4 c. cocoa powder

1 1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/8 tsp. salt

3/4 c. butter, softened

1 1/4 c. sugar

1 egg

Sift together the dry ingredients and set aside. 

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg.

Stir in the dry ingredients to form a soft dough. Divide dough in half, flatten into a disk and wrap each piece tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8" thick. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutter. Add flour to counter as needed. Use a flat thin spatula to move cut cookies to cookie sheet. Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges begin to firm. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes on cookie sheets before removing

                                     

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This cookie has tons of chocolate flavor, serious chocolate, and is delicious with a touch of frosting. 

Sugar Cookies

In my mind this is a traditional Christmas Cookie. My mom baked lots of cutout cookies and set us kids at the table with bowls of colored frosting, containers of colored sugar, and those little silver balls, and we went to it! Mom's cookies always looked so much better than the ones done by us kids, but she let us "help" none the less. My brothers soon tired of the whole project and if my memory serves me correctly they would begin mixing the colors together inappropriately and were soon allowed to be off to something more to their liking. Mom would then pack away the cookies into some big metal cans she had and she kept them in the cold unheated stairway. I can still remember how delicious those cookies tasted. 

1 c. butter

1 c. sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/4 tsp. salt

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add vanilla and stir to combine. Sift the dry ingredients and stir into the creamed mixture to form a soft dough.

Cover dough and refrigerate at least two hours. 

Roll dough to 1/4" thick on a well floured counter. Cut into desired shapes with cutters.

Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes. Remove from oven when cookies begin to firm at the edges. For soft cookies do not let the edges brown. Cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes before removing.

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This recipe came from one of Mom's friends. The recipe is written in my mother's handwriting and Inez Koch is credited for the recipe. These recipes hand written by Mom are precious to me. It isn't even the recipe Mom usually used, but I love it anyway. 

I don't have many words of wisdom for these recipes that I haven't given before. I can highlight a few but read my other cookie posts for more detailed explanations if necessary.

Measure carefully. Follow the directions for mixing. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Do not over bake. Have fun!

I use the frosting recipe from my last post. Over the years I have streamlined the process by using only my very favorite cutters and frosting all cookies the same. I put a different color of frosting in each bag and do one color at a time with cookies laying out flat on the counter. With a little practice you will make beautiful cookies, much more easily and quickly than you can by frosting with a knife or spatula. Allow the frosting to harden before packing the cookies in tightly covered containers with waxed paper between the layers. The cookies will stay soft and fresh if frozen or kept in a cold place. If you don't have freezer room keep them in a cooler on your back deck or in an unheated garage. If packaged carefully you will have delicious cookies till Christmas time.

The Back Story . . .

I can not bake without making a mess. Need I say more? 

Beauty of the season . . . 

View out my door as I finished my Chocolate Trees this evening.
Let It Snow!