My mom used to make a bunch of different cookies. She's scaled back in recent years, but she still makes some of the old standards. As a kid I liked cut-out cookies or cut-outs, as we called them. They were and still are made with some old family recipe, which includes orange zest. We got to help decorate after they cooled. She frosted, we applied sprinkles and balls. We were limited in the number of hard sugar balls we were allowed to plop around the cookie, however, after our grandpa almost broke some teeth.
My very most favorite cookies today are my grandma's pecan fingers. She no longer makes them because she is 95 and in a nursing home. My mom will often make a batch so I can have a few each year. Weirdly, I don't like them as much. I don't know what my grandma did differently, but they don't taste the same. Maybe it is the butter or the flour, but something is slightly off. I also don't like when they are rolled into a ball rather than into a finger shape. They just taste different. I know picky picky, particularly since I don't bake.
My brother's (the dad) favorite cookie is the spice cookie. I am really not a fan, so I don't know exactly what's in it, but there is some combination of cinnamon and nutmeg. Prior to baking you roll the dough balls in colored sugar. My uncle likes this cookie so much that he asks for a batch for Christmas.
My favorite Christmas cookie is a generations-old family tradition on my side. It's a buttery almond-flavored cookie, with (I know this sounds odd) just the right amount of a slight salty taste. The recipe is a bit different from any other "butter cookie" type I've ever seen. They're really called "candy cane cookies", because you color half the dough red, leave the other half white, and then take some of each color and form little candy canes. I did it like this for years. (I LOVE this cookie. So does my husband.) Then last year (read: the year I had a 2 year old and a newborn) I had a revelation. I left all the dough plain, rolled it into little balls, flattened them slightly into circles, and dipped them in red and green decorating sugar. Same dough, same taste, none of the hard work. My family would probably say, "Is nothing sacred?!" or "How could you?!" But I'm happy. I now call them "Christmas Buttons." My new favorite Christmas cookie!
Posted by: Shannon | December 21, 2007 at 05:51 PM
I don't know if they were exactly the same, but one of my relatives used to make these when I was a kid. I loved them, but I can't tell you the last time I ate one. I'm sure it has been 30ish years. It brings back good memories. Enjoy.
Posted by: Question | December 22, 2007 at 12:37 AM