I’m closing out Mayhem’s 12 days of Christmas Cookies with two cookies that are my all time favorites. Both are recipes my grandma made every Christmas, and while they’re a bit more modern (1950s) than many of the other recipes I’ve shared, they’re definite crowd pleasers. The first are Peanut Butter Kisses – chewy peanut…
Tag: cookies
Family Christmas Cookie 10: Snowball Cookies
Of all the cookies my grandma made for Christmas, these are one of the most memorable to me. I think it’s because they’re just so pretty! The bright white frosting combined with the coconut makes for such a delicate, lovely looking cookie, and provides a nice contrast on a cookie tray when placed next to…
Family Christmas Cookie 9: Sugar Cookies
No Christmas cookie plate would be complete without sugar cookies! Much like the gingerbread cookies I shared earlier, this same recipe came from several sources, and I eventually tracked it down to my old 1963 copy of The Cooky Book. This isn’t my favorite recipe for decorating or using precise cutters, but it tastes…
Family Christmas Cookie 8: Gingerbread Boys
One of the really fun parts of compiling this recipe list was comparing and contrasting my family recipes with my husband’s family recipes. In most cases, there’s a wide contrast between the two families – most of my grandma’s cookies were more elaborate and from newer recipes, while my husband’s family cookbook is heavily…
Family Christmas Cookie 7: Angel Pillows
Angel Pillows are a favorite from my mum’s side of the family. I made them with strawberry preserves, but my grandma always made these with apricot or peach. I believe the recipe must have come out of a magazine or advertisement, as the tattered copy I was given mentioned a few brands by name, but…
Family Christmas Cookie 6: Pfeffernüsse Cookies
This recipe is another of my father-in-law’s additions to the second edition of my mother-in-law’s family cookbook. They always say men marry their mother, but MINE often remarks that he actually married his father. One reason for that is our shared love for anise, and, in turn, these German Pfeffernusse (“peppernut”) cookies. Unlike the other…
Family Christmas Cookie 4: Spritz Cookies
I think just about every family has a spritz cookie recipe that only comes out around Christmas time. Ours originated from my mum’s church cookbook, and features a light cookie with hints of both vanilla and almond. My grandma used to make these with the wreath shape in her cookie press, tint the dough green,…
Family Christmas Cookie 3: Russian Tea Cakes
Like yesterday’s Snickerdoodles, Russian Tea Cakes were in the first edition of my husband’s family cookbook, and were a staple at my mum’s family Christmas gatherings. My favorite thing about these is that they’re not too sweet, making them a great alternative to biscotti with a nice cup of coffee on Christmas morning. This post…
Family Christmas Cookie 2: Snickerdoodles
Snickerdoodles were a recipe in the first edition of my husband’s family cookbook, and a favorite at many of my own family gatherings. These were some of the first I cookies I baked and distributed at PAX as a member of the Cookie Brigade, and not only did they sell out faster than my monster…
Family Christmas Cookie 1: Gingersnaps
These classic Gingersnaps are made from a recipe passed down by my husband’s Grandma Lorraine. While I wasn’t lucky enough to meet Lorraine, these hold a special place in my heart as one of the family recipes we shared on our wedding dessert buffet. This post is day 1 in the series Mayhem’s 12 Days…
Drop Sugar Cookies
I hope all of my American readers had a fabulous Thanksgiving – I know I sure did! Most of the time we need to juggle holidays between my side of the family and my husband’s side, but this year we were fortunate enough to celebrate twice, once on Thursday with my family, and once on…
Bakery Style BIG Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Tomorrow we’re celebrating another colleague’s birthday at work, and he’s not much into sweets. Since it’s a Friday, I’d toyed with the idea of just bringing in a bottle of gin, or perhaps a nice liqueur, but what’s a birthday without treats? Instead of going crazy with cake, I opted for some simple crowd-pleasing cookies,…
Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
It was one of those nights again – we had a relatively light dinner, and were all cuddled up on the couch watching Downton when the sweets craving hit us. Of course there wasn’t any junk in the house, and while fruit is my usual go-to sugar source, we both agreed we needed something a…
100 Calorie Vegan Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies for Two
As much as I bake, I really don’t get to eat as many sweets as one might think – I make small batches, and look for occasions to bake for others whenever possible. Usually this means I don’t have any baked goods in the house when my husband or I want them most, and honestly,…
Chocolate Cherry Fudge Cookies
Last night we were cleaning out our refrigerator in preparation for veering off of our regular meal plan for the long holiday weekend, when I came across a handful of organic cherries. They were still perfectly good, but didn’t look quite as plump as they once did, so I figured they’d be a good candidate…