The Christmas Cookie Tradition

In our home, Christmas is all about tradition.  Trying something different throws my family off kilter.  The year we lived in Barcelona created some challenges around Christmas time.   Decorating for Christmas with no Christmas decorations was interesting.  I ended up using our beautifully wrapped presents as decoration, placing them is groups around our living room.   Normally our Christmas presents miraculously appear on Christmas morning so having the kids see their presents displayed around the house did not work for them.  “Put blinders on when you go into the living room,” I would say. The present decoration technique was festive enough to break tradition, at least for one year.

Getting a Christmas tree that year was an adventure.  I went to my local nursery and in my best Spanish told them the type and size of tree I was looking for.  They took me to the Christmas tree room, a small warehouse with hundreds of trees completely wrapped up to look like green logs.  He maneuvered around in this grove of vertical sticks and came out with one that looked to be the right height.  He took the time to properly untie the twine and voila–it was my perfect tree.  I did my best to ask for a delivery the next day in a proper Christmas tree stand.   The next day, two delivery men arrived with my tree stuck in a pot with what looked like cement.  I thought it must be some special absorbent type of material that you could water on a daily basis to keep the tree fresh but no, the tree was stuck in a pot full of cement.  I made the decision to tell my husband about this after Christmas.  It would ruin the enjoyment of the tree for him if he had to think about taking a ten foot tree that was stuck in a thirty-pound bucket of cement down eight sets of stairs.

I never considered making cookies in Barcelona.  I had no mixer or proper cookie sheets and all of my recipes were back at home, not to mention the sugar in Spain was like coarse sand.  I never made an announcement about the cookies, I just assumed everyone understood it was quite impossible.  When it was the middle of December and I had no cookies in the freezer my family became suspicious and announced: Christmas will not be Christmas without Christmas cookies.  Forget the present thing, or no decorations or a  funky tree in a pot of cement, it was the cookies that created that special Christmas feel for my family.  I borrowed a mixer and cookie sheets from my girlfriend Elizabeth, had my business partner back home break into our home and grab a few of my recipes, and I made about 400 cookies.  As I handed out our treats to our neighbors, I told them that all American women make cookies and give them out as Christmas gifts.  You see, I was an ambassador for the American housewife.

I have been making Christmas cookies, lots of them, for over 30 years.  I give them as gifts to my family, friends, neighbors, mailman, gardeners, butchers, produce guys and whomever I  happen to see during December.  I have had to console friends who were worried I was mad at them since they missed out on their annual batch.  I do this cookie making only in December–you will never find a homemade cookie in my home at any other time of the year since I’m too burnt out from making the few thousand during Christmas.  I make around ten different types and make two double batches of each and freeze the dough.  I try to start in November but do my best to have the dough complete by the first week in December.  Then I bake the cookies and eat way to much raw cookie dough in the process.  My family actually rates my cookies in the cooked state and in its raw state.  I always make at least one new type of cookie each year and am on the hunt for that new recipe throughout the year.  This year Diana, who gave me the cupcake recipe, stated she had a recipe for the best cookie ever, a brown butter, Brown Sugar Cookie and I knew that would be in this year’s lineup.  It is an absolute keeper, and it has risen to my number one raw favorite.

I bake half of the cookies and put them in my freezer, give those out and then bake the second half.  As of Sunday the 19th, I am done with cookies until December 2011.  I now eat them like daily medicine.  In January I will go on a diet.

I made ten different types of cookies this year. Eight of them are my standards:

Date nuggets, David’s favorites.

Kentucky Spice, a jam-filled spice cookie that is my dear friend Terry’s favorite.  Poor Terry has missed out on my cookies for the past few years.  Stop on by Terry, I have a bag in the freezer for you!  By the way Terry, I am not mad at you.

Almond-Apricot Biscotti, a recipe I stole from my assistant Ninette in the 90’s and has been in my cookie line up every year since.  My Uncle Ed thinks I should go into the cookie business with these biscotti.

Everyone loves my Mexican Wedding Cake cookies.  I place them in the powdered sugar when they are piping hot so the powdered sugar melts onto the cookie.

My Peanut Butter and Chocolate Jewels are my favorite.  This new cookie from last year has that perfect sandy texture plus a good bite of chocolate, like a cookie and candy in one.

I have been making the Orange Poppy Seed cookies since the early 80’s.  They are quick to cook and remind me of a vanilla wafer on orange steroids.

If I ever got rid of my Coconut Dreams, I think my family and friends would have a mini riot.  Even people who are not fond of coconut love this cookie.  It is a runner up in its raw state.

My mother’s favorite was the Almond Crisps.  She was not interested in having any of my other cookies; all she wanted were the crisps!  Every year I would make an extra batch of these cookies for her.

This year I made two new cookies and both of them will be in my permanent cookie lineup.  The first I already mentioned, the Brown Sugar Cookies. The other is Chocolate Clouds, a chocolate chip cookie.  I make the traditional Toll House chocolate chip every year but received a new baking book for my birthday and the book had this cookie recipe in it.  I love the flat and crinklely look of this cookie.  Another runner up in the raw dough category.

I am in the process of writing up all of the recipes for my cookies and you can find the recipe by clicking on the name of each cookie.  I should be completely done with the recipes after Christmas.  I will give you my tips on how to make the perfect cookie for your friends and family.  Each one of these recipes are delicious and worth trying.  Just ask my friends.