It's not too early to be thinking about favorite old-fashioned Christmas cookie recipes

Linda Bittle
Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited October 2020 in Baking

My grandma made about 10 different kinds of Christmas cookies, fudge with walnuts, peanut butter fudge, and peanut brittle every Christmas. I loved all the choices, and have started to collect recipes that look or sound familiar. We are talking the 1960s here. She made great Snicker-doodles!

These Snowballs are one of my favorites, but I can't recall the name of another ball-shaped cookie that I loved. I know there was orange juice in it, and I think dates, but I can't remember anything else.

Anyone remember a cookie like that?


Comments

  • shllnzl
    shllnzl Posts: 1,820 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I am remembering the following, but they don't contain dates or orange juice.


  • Ferg
    Ferg Posts: 285 ✭✭✭
    edited September 2020

    My favorite "Old Fashioned" cookies:

    • Spritz cookies .. with almond extract ... the ones that you put into the tube and have different designs.
    • anise cookies ... the ones you dry out overnight before baking
    • pfeffernuess
    • spice cookies - they are like ginger snaps, but they have more spice than ginger snaps
    • chocolate chip
    • peanut butter criss -cross
    • kisses (meringue) (although this might be candy)
    • almond cookies (with the powder on the outside)

    To go with that, though, we also need the candy!

    • potato candy - dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut.
    • divinity
    • caramels
    • seafoam
    • fudge (I love white fudge. and peanut butter fudge).

    Then there are all the confections that my friends around the world make that I don't know the names for, only that the time we spend drinking hot beverages and yapping and eating these things are the best times in my life (-:

    PS --- @shllnzl those are one of the cookies that I didn't know the names for -- my Sicilian in-laws used to make something like that as well, but they'd make them in the shape of a crescent.

  • dipat2005
    dipat2005 Posts: 1,289 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Mary Linda Bittle I still make Christmas cut out cookies and decorate them. Several years ago when my great grandbabies were very young I cut out the cookies ahead of time and the kids decorated them before Christmas dinner and we baked them for dessert. They really liked that. It was a lot of fun for the adults to watch them.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Ferg I've not made the spritz cookies, but I recently found the cookie gun with an assortment of shaped nozzles for 2.00 at a yard sale. I think I'm going to try it this Christmas!

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I love ginger snaps all year round, and molasses cookies, too.

  • OhiohillsLouise
    OhiohillsLouise Posts: 120 ✭✭✭

    I was thinking of what we call a wedding cooking made in a ball with finely chopped nuts and rolled in powdered sugar.

    Since we are talking about cookies ... I’m looking for a cookie recipe I found in a magazine years ago and lost. It was made with cream cheese. It was a sandwich type with a dollop of jam poking out the top cookie hole. Then a sprinkle of powdered sugar. It would melt in your mouth.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2020

    @OhiohillsLouise This doesn't have sour cream, but the photos look like what you remember:


  • OhiohillsLouise
    OhiohillsLouise Posts: 120 ✭✭✭

    @Mary Linda Bittle yes that is what it looks like. Thank you.

  • blevinandwomba
    blevinandwomba Posts: 813 ✭✭✭✭

    I also love the snowball cookies.

    @Mary Linda Bittle My grandma had a recipe for a cookie with orange juice in it- it's in a cookbook she made for my mom. She crushed a box of vanilla wafers, added a cup each of finely chopped nuts and coconut flakes, and added enough orange juice for it to hold together. Then she made it into balls and rolled them in 10x sugar. Recipe says they store a long time in the refrigerator.I don't remember ever having it, but mom says she made it many times.

    I do remember having her raisin cookies many times- they were so good! They weren't raisin filled cookies( I like those too) they were more like a small scone. They were just barely sweet, which really made they raisins stand out. No one outside my family seems familiar with them.

  • herbantherapy
    herbantherapy Posts: 453 ✭✭✭✭

    Oh goodness! How far in advance does everyone make their Christmas cookie dough to freeze? I make a molasses cookie and an eggnog chai cookie in high demand every year. This year I want to be prepared and freeze so I can just pop in batches as needed.

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @blevinandwomba Yes! I think this is the one. I couldn't remember the vanilla wafers. Thanks so much!


    And this looks good!


  • Sheila
    Sheila Posts: 108 ✭✭✭

    I generally start my cookie making in October - a batch or two of dough each week to go into the freezer. I generally do 6-8 varieties of shortbread/sugar cookie types and another 6-8 varieties of biscotti. These are mostly gifted to friends and family so my baking starts the 1st or 2nd week in December and generally takes me about 2 weeks to complete as there are around 9-10 dozen of each variety. Here is a recipe my Grandma used to make with orange and date - not sure if it is what you are looking for:

    CITRUS SNOWBALL COOKIES

    45 to 50 cookies

     COOKIES

    1 cup unsalted butter

    1/4 teaspoon salt

    ½ cup confectioners' sugar

    2 teaspoons grated orange zest

    2 cups all purpose flour

    ½ cup dates chopped fine (optional)

     

    1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

     

    Preheat the oven to 350°F. Have on hand a rimmed, ungreased baking sheet.

    In a medium-sized bowl, beat together the butter and salt until soft and fluffy. Mix in the confectioners' sugar, dates (if using) and zest. Add the flour, stirring until combined.

    Scoop the dough into 1" balls place on baking sheet. Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes. They should be very light brown on the bottom, and feel set when lightly touched on top.

    Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 3 minutes. Place sifted confectioner’s sugar on a plate. When the cookies are firm enough to handle but still warm, carefully roll the cookies in the sugar.

    Let the cookies cool completely, then re-roll in the sugar. Store cookies in airtight containers for 1 week; freeze for longer storage.

     

  • burekcrew86
    burekcrew86 Posts: 248 ✭✭✭

    I’m not a big fan of freezing cookies, so we usually do a power baking day a week before Christmas at our house. Then we make trays up for all our extended family. We have our favorites that we make every year and we always add one or two new ones to try. Here are our trays from the last two years.


  • Ferg
    Ferg Posts: 285 ✭✭✭

    Oh those sound wonderful @herbantherapy ... would you be so kind as to share your recipes? I wonder if the molasses cookie is the same as my spice cookie. Does it crack? that eggnog chai sounds great.

  • Ferg
    Ferg Posts: 285 ✭✭✭

    This is the best, and the worst, discussion I've seen LOL. So many yummy things.

    I love to visit other people and eat their cookies. I also love to bake with my son, when he and I are in the same place at the same time. But I don't have lots of cookies at my place. I might eat one or two, but then I am packing them all up in bags and giving them away.

    My DIL used to get fancy canning jars around christmas and spend a weekend making cookies just in time for advent / st nicholas gifts. One year she was happily running around the day before Thanksgiving making cookies for sandwich and dipped cookies. Early in the morning on Thanksgiving, her water broke. Thanksgiving baby and a batches of almost-done sandwich cookies 😂 (the cookies were done, the assembly part not so much). Her hubby is a mensch and helped get that done. I'm sure she'll never forget that year's cookie making.

    This isn't really an "old fashioned" cookie, but one of our favorites are Chinese almond cookies, with the almond in the middle and the egg glaze on top.

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin

    No, it is definitely NOT too early to be talking about Christmas goodies! It's funny, but I think that because of everything going on, I'm already daydreaming about Christmas decorations and have started thinking about Christmas lists. I do love Christmas, especially here where it snows, and this year it's just extra nice to have something to look forward to.

    When I was growing up, part of our Christmas cookie-baking included those cookies with the Hershey's kiss in them, plus we did Italian wedding cookies, decorated sugar cookies, jam thumbprints, and the peanut butter cookies that you use a fork to make a cross-hatch on top of. Yum!

  • Merin Porter
    Merin Porter Posts: 1,026 admin

    Wow, @burekcrew86 -- those trays look incredible! We've got some new favorites, too. One that I discovered a couple of years ago is the Big, Soft Ginger Cookie recipe on AllRecipes, here: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/17165/big-soft-ginger-cookies/ I use butter instead of margarine, but I do everything else as written and they.are.delectable!!!!

  • COWLOVINGIRL
    COWLOVINGIRL Posts: 954 ✭✭✭✭

    I love the idea of baking christmas cookies!

  • Linda Bittle
    Linda Bittle Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I love this sharing of recipes - and memories! I think we are all getting nostalgic this year

    Thanks, everyone, for sharing.

  • annbeck62
    annbeck62 Posts: 1,028 ✭✭✭✭

    This is a fun post. All the cookies look and sound so yummy. I used to do a ton of baking around the holidays. Then I got away from it. This year may be a good year to start up again. The sad part is I've already heard from out of state family that due to covid they won't be coming this year :( I usually have company both at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Maybe I'll bake and send care packages this year :)

  • dimck421
    dimck421 Posts: 203 ✭✭✭

    Oooooooooh myyyyyyy! What a delicious post! I never met a cookie I didn't like!

  • water2world
    water2world Posts: 1,177 ✭✭✭✭

    Oh WOW! Those cookies look fantastic! I would definitely call it a "power baking day"!

  • Granny Marie
    Granny Marie Posts: 53 ✭✭✭

    Here's a rollout cookie recipe I got from Grandmother. I have some larger cookie cutters that make it easier for the younger grandkids to decorate.

    1 cup butter

    1 cup sugar

    1 egg

    1 tsp vanilla

    2 tsp baking powder

    3 cups all-purpose flour

    Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add baking powder and flour 1 cup at a time mixing well after each addition. Do not chill dough.

    Roll out 1/8 inch thick. Bake at 400 degrees for 6-7 minutes. They won't be brown at all.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,573 admin

    Thanks for the additional recipe, @Marie Grace! It sounds tasty.

    Welcome to the TGN forum!