Christmas and Cookies (and other snacks)

Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies
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When we were kids, Mom and my grandmother made cookies for Christmas. Tons and tons of cookies. That doesn't include the cookies that my grandmother made on her own. While she made many different varieties, she was truly famous (in the family and in her neighborhood) for her rolled cookies. She made the best sugar cookies I've ever eaten. Her sand tarts were wonderful. And everything was always decorated; there was no such thing as a plain cookie in her house, even if it was just an almond in the center of the cookie.

Grandma made sugared popcorn, too. It was just popped corn, covered in a sugar syrup with red or green food coloring. She made bags of the stuff and gave them out to the grandkids. And pulled taffy. I used to help her with the pulled taffy and she had a large hook on the wall in her kitchen to help with the pulling. Best taffy ever. Except for the taffy with the black walnuts. No thank you. She also made brittle, but she added black walnuts to her brittle, too (except, she always made a little sheet of peanut brittle because she knew I liked it).

She made the best fudge. To this day, I don't make good fudge, even "easy" fudge. Oh, everything comes together beautifully. Until I add the chocolate, at which point, it seizes beyond repair. I've given up on fudge.

Do you have memories of Christmas baking in your family? Did you help with the baking? What do you remember?
 

Mia6

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Oh yes. I helped. My mother's mother was from Eastern Europe and they made all kinds of cookies, pastries, nut rolls that were amazing. I cannot pronounce most of the stuff but I know them when I see them Good times
 

Mother Dragon

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It wasn't Christmas until my mom made sand tarts. I ate them almost as soon as they were cool enough to pick up. I still love those things!

We also had to have Mamie Eisenhower's famous fudge, also known as Million Dollar Fudge. It made a ton, but set up so quickly that it was best to have help when portioning it. Rich and creamy, filled with nuts, but oh, so persnickety about humidity. So was the divinity we would sometimes dare to make despite the ever-high humidity. Sometimes we got divinity and sometimes we got marshmallow-y syrup.

Today I love to make buried cherry cookies. Sort of like a fudge brownie combined with a chocolate covered cherry. Incredible!
 

denice

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My mother wasn't a baker other then occasional homemade bread and pies when things were in season. My grandmother made fudge and divinity. I didn't much care for divinity. She made the old fashioned kind of fudge, really rich but it wasn't real creamy. She could use any kind of chocolate in it. I even seen her make it with Hershey's cocoa, not the mix but the old fashioned cocoa. She also made peanut brittle.

My mother-in-law did the Christmas baking. Her mother was Russian so she did the Rugelach and the Kolachy. I had never heard of those things before.
 

Jem

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I started baking as soon as I was old enough to lick the spoon! My Mom, Grandmothers (both sides) and Great Aunt were all amazing. BUT my Grandfather on my Mom's side takes the cake when it comes to baking and such. He made all sorts of cookies and they were beautiful, he made fudge the old fashion way, even folding it on a marble slab to make sure it was smooth. It hardly touched you mouth before it would dissolve. THE BEST! He even made marshmallows from scratch....who does that!
I have pretty well taken over the baking around the holidays, and when my Grandfather passed away, he left all his cook books to me, with all his hand written notes that made the recipes better. I hope I make him proud.
I'm actually going to get started on my baking today (a lot later than usual :paperbag: ). So I don't think I'll have time to make everything I usually do, and I don't think this year will be a year for experimenting with new ones, but I still have to make all the favorites.
Chocolate dipped shortbread cookies
Cappuccino flats
Marshmallow squares
Ginger cookies
Double chocolate chip cookies
Chocolate chip cookies
Cinnamon danish cookies
Peanut butter cookies
Date squares
Jam cookies (using my grandmother's home made jam)

And if I have time, I'll keep adding with this list...
Peanut butter balls
Chocolate mint cookie cups
Chocolate Macaroons
Salted caramels
Almond bark
Peppermint bark
Butterscotch chocolate clusters

I'm actually missing a few that I can't think of right now...I need to look at my books.

Happy baking to all who bake......and happy eating to those who don't! ;)
 

LTS3

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The only cookies Mom ever made from scratch around the holidays were almond cookies. She had an old recipe that calls for a whole pound of real lard. Of course, she never told people who were non-meat eaters or on special diets about the lard. She'd make at least 8 dozen or so of almond cookies just for work. It took hours of hand mixing the thick dough together and rolling out the balls of cookies.

Sometimes she'd buy those Toll House "break and bake" refrigerated cookie dough or a box mix so my siblings and I could have cookies. It's not the same as made from scratch and love, though :disappointed:
 

betsygee

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My mom used to make divinity. It's really kind of awful stuff, nothing but sugar, but that's what she'd make to give away as Christmas gifts, along with fudge. She'd make huge batches of the divinity, in different colors, some with nuts, some without. It was my sisters' and my job to get the stuff dropped onto cookie sheets before it hardened. I remember it being so sticky and messy, and we'd be practically sick to our stomachs from an afternoon of licking sugary spoons, bowls, and fingers. :lol:

I'm inspired--I might try to make some for my mom and sisters this year. I know I haven't seen or tasted any in about 45 years, and I'll bet they haven't either.
 

nurseangel

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My mom made great chocolate candy (it wasn't fudge) that doesn't seem to set up correctly in NC. My aunt made chocolate gravy (if you've never tried it, look up a recipe online, easy and so delicious). Winchester Winchester , don't give up on the fudge! It may not be as good as your grandmother made, but the Eagle brand recipe has never failed me. I only change up the chocolate - I like milk rather than semi-sweet. :blush:
 

posiepurrs

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My mother wasn’t much of a cook but I do remember a candy she made at Christmas sometimes. It had pecans and of all things, buttermilk! It was good- wish I could find a recipe. I don’t even know what it was called. When my kids were young I baked tons of cookies, make and decorated cakes and cup cakes and even did some candy. Haven’t done much lately though. I would send a huge plate of cookies, breads and cakes to work with my husband to share with his salesmen and I would take some to work for my staff.
 
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Winchester

In the kitchen with my cookies
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I didn't want to bake a ton of cookies (because I'd eat them), so I asked Dear Richard what one cookie he would like. The answer? Chocolate chip. When I said that I thought he'd say Snickerdoodles, he replied that that goes without saying. So it became Snicks and chocolate chip. The other day, he said he'd really love to have some old-fashioned peanut butter cookies. Ooooo-Kay. And then the other day, we were out running errands and he mentioned that I haven't made my brown sugar and cinnamon biscotti or my cherry-orange biscotti and now that he's drinks coffee in the morning, those biscotti would go well with his coffee. Fine.

Rick's mother asked me if I was making white chip and macadamia cookies. Well, yeah, now I am.

The grands always want chocolate crinkles. Our granddaughter makes them with her dad, but for some reason, they don't come out right. Okey-dokey.

So:
Snickerdoodles
Chocolate chip Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Brown Sugar and Cinnamon biscotti
Cherry-Orange Biscotti
Chocolate Crinkles
White Chip and Macadamia Nut Cookies
Sand Tarts (a double batch) I found a truly excellent recipe for sand tarts on Pinterest. It's really good.
Rolled Sugar Cookies (a double batch) Another excellent recipe from Pinterest.
King Arthur's Stamped Maple Shortbread Cookies (from their most recent catalog)

Homemade Marshmallows (for our nights and mornings with hot chocolate)
Almond Brittle

And sticky buns for us (and my sister and BIL) for Christmas morning. They'll take some marshmallows, too. And the biscotti because they go so well with hot tea, too.) I make an Americanized version of biscotti that takes eggs. True Italian biscotti does not use eggs.

I went from Name One Cookie to Sure! Fine! I'll make anything you want!
 

Kat0121

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I didn't want to bake a ton of cookies (because I'd eat them), so I asked Dear Richard what one cookie he would like. The answer? Chocolate chip. When I said that I thought he'd say Snickerdoodles, he replied that that goes without saying. So it became Snicks and chocolate chip. The other day, he said he'd really love to have some old-fashioned peanut butter cookies. Ooooo-Kay. And then the other day, we were out running errands and he mentioned that I haven't made my brown sugar and cinnamon biscotti or my cherry-orange biscotti and now that he's drinks coffee in the morning, those biscotti would go well with his coffee. Fine.

Rick's mother asked me if I was making white chip and macadamia cookies. Well, yeah, now I am.

The grands always want chocolate crinkles. Our granddaughter makes them with her dad, but for some reason, they don't come out right. Okey-dokey.

So:
Snickerdoodles
Chocolate chip Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Brown Sugar and Cinnamon biscotti
Cherry-Orange Biscotti
Chocolate Crinkles
White Chip and Macadamia Nut Cookies
Sand Tarts (a double batch) I found a truly excellent recipe for sand tarts on Pinterest. It's really good.
Rolled Sugar Cookies (a double batch) Another excellent recipe from Pinterest.
King Arthur's Stamped Maple Shortbread Cookies (from their most recent catalog)

Homemade Marshmallows (for our nights and mornings with hot chocolate)
Almond Brittle

And sticky buns for us (and my sister and BIL) for Christmas morning. They'll take some marshmallows, too. And the biscotti because they go so well with hot tea, too.) I make an Americanized version of biscotti that takes eggs. True Italian biscotti does not use eggs.

I went from Name One Cookie to Sure! Fine! I'll make anything you want!
Did you really think you'd get away with just making one kind? :lol:
 

catapault

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Yesterday was the Dutch Christmas at Bouman Stickney farmstead museum. Their events are 18th century. Sint Nicolaas was there (no white horse though.) Two musicians, she plays a hammered dulcimer and he has an historic violin. And my two favorite presenters were there with a third friend of theirs. They were not actually baking - the walk-in open hearth in the downstairs kitchen can make things kind of smokey upstairs and that's where the family events and the musicians were. So Bev and Arlene had baked at home - springerle and speculas and gingerbread.
Bouman Stickney-Christmas_2019-12_cockerel mold and cookie.jpg
They were making pastilles and other things that didn't need baking. Another wonderful event.
 

muffy

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My mother would make chocolate chip, sugar, peanut butter and short bread cookies every Christmas. The peanut butter were my favorite.
 

Tobermory

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I can’t remember a cookie tradition, although we had holiday cookies, but the big event in our house was Dad’s fudge. Every Christmas, he’d pull the ingredients out of the cabinet, eyeball the amounts, throw everything in the pan, and turn on the heat. No written recipe, no measuring.

At the right moment—a mystical time known only to the Fudge Master, aka Dad—he’d drizzle some into cold water and work it into a ball to see if it was ready. When he judged it to be just right, he would turn off the heat and let it sit for a few minutes. Then he take a spoon and whip it until it was just the right consistency. He’d then pour it in all of its shiny chocolatey glory into a greased pan. And then I’d snatch the pan and take off, followed by my whiney brother shrieking that he had been promised the remaining chocolate from the pan. Sucker. :lol:

It’s the only time Dad ever used the kitchen. For years after I moved out, I’d get the occasional surprise package in the mail...full of chocolate and love. I tried many times to duplicate Dad’s fudge with no success.

It’s a special Christmas memory, but I haven’t thought of it for years. Dad has been gone since 2008. Thank you, Winchester Winchester , for this post that prompted me to remember. :redheartpump:
 
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