Monday, December 14, 2020

Christmas Cookies

 
Today I would like to share with you some new cookie recipes my daughter and I have recently enjoyed baking. This year I decided to try some new cookie recipes, as I tend to make the same cookies every Christmas season. All three new recipes were well received and have been added to my cookbook for future reference.

This summer one of our favorite read aloud books was Pippi Longstocking. In the story Pippi is forever baking and eating pepparkakor cookies. Jemimah was shocked by many of Pippi's antics, including when Pippi rolled out her cookie dough on the kitchen floor. After baking a batch of pepparkakor cookies we could easily see why Pippi would bake such large batches of these cookies, they don't last long. Pepparkakor cookies are delicious and have a wonderfully spicy flavor.

 
Pepparkakor Cookies
  • 1 cup butter, softened 
  • 3 1/4 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar (I used all brown, but I think the recipe recommend white)
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon water 
 Directions: Sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Cream butter and sugar in a separate bowl. Add egg, maple syrup, and water to butter and sugar mixture. Beat until fluffy. Gradually add dry ingredients. Mix until well combined. Cover bowl and chill dough for at least an hour to make the dough easier to handle and roll out. Once chilled, roll dough until about 1/8" thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out dough into shapes. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned on the bottom.

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Jemimah discovered this recipe in her Club House Jr. Magazine. They were a lot of fun to make and the finished cookies were scrumptious! The design and flavor are perfect for Christmas. I know that from now on candy cane cookies will be part of my Christmas cookie rotation each year.

 
Candy Cane Cookies
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup confectioners sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • red food coloring

Directions: Cream butter and sugar. Add egg, peppermint, vanilla, salt and baking powder. Gradually add flour, mix well. Set aside half of the dough. Add red food coloring to one half of dough. Chill dough for at least one hour, so that dough is easier to work with. Once chilled pinch off a piece of dough, about 2 tablespoons, from each color. Roll each dough into a rope that measure about 5" long. Twist both ropes together and  then curve top to create a cane shaped cookie. Bake in a 375 degree oven 9-12 minutes.

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During the Christmas season I often think of my grandma and all of her wonderful baking. Each Christmas she would give our family a shirt box filled with an assortment of homemade cookies. My sisters and I were always excited to see what grandma had baked that year. One of my favorite cookies were grandma's mincemeat cookies. They tasted so old-fashioned and festive. Unfortunately grandma never shared the recipe and after her passing we were unable to find the recipe in her cookbooks. However, awhile back I read a recipe for mincemeat cookies shared by Jennifer that sounded similar. I finally tried baking her recipe and it tasted just like the cookies I remembered grandma baking! They are truly a special treat. I encourage you to visit Jennifer's blog and try baking her recipe for mincemeat cookies.

I hope you will enjoy trying the cookie recipes I shared today. Have you tried any new cookie recipes this season? If yes, do you have a new favorite to recommend?

P.S. A few years back I shared some favorite Christmas cookie recipes. If you are interested in seeing the post here is a link.
 
"O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens." Psalm 8:1

13 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing these new cookie recipes! They look and sound really good. I think I would like the Pippy Long-stocking's cookies. I like Hermits and Molasses cookies, which are both on the spicy side.

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    1. I agree! I love cookies that are made with spices.

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  2. The cookies look wonderful, thank you for sharing! I'll remember your Pepparkakor recipe the next time we read Pippi. Same thing with my grandmother. Her daughter made me a handmade cookbook of my grandmother's recipes but there's a disclosure at the beginning that my grandmother never wrote things down and rarely measured her ingredients! (I remember her making pie crusts with an actual tea cup!!)

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  3. These look so yummy! Thank you for sharing them. I also went back and looked at your other cookie recipes that you mentioned, and they look wonderful, as well. My son has been asking to make Christmas cookies, so your post came at the perfect time! I trust the Lord will bless you and your family with a wonderful Christmas!

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  4. Your post made my day and reminded me, I need to pull out my recipe book and make sure I have everything on hand. We don't do cookies, we have a candy making day the week of Christmas. This year, I am making my mother's Martha Washington candy and my great grandmother's pecan rolls. Last year, I made potato candy. We always do peppermint bark and Oreo "snowmen" and chocolate dipped pretzel rods with sprinkles, and something called "trash" which is Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal and a bunch of other stuff mixed in white almond bark. We will serve the candy along with finger foods on Christmas Eve while listening to "It's a Wonderful Life" on podcast, we have done this for as long as we have been married. We are very much into traditions and some of those had to be altered this year because of COVID, but this is one tradition we can keep since it will be at home! Blessings and stay safe!

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  5. We love Pepparkakor cookies in our house and just made some for St. Lucia's!!

    They all look so yummy!!

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  6. I have a Swiss, German, and Austrian baking book, and Pepparkakor cookies were in there, I think I've made them.

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  7. Such fun times in the kitchen! Your cookies look delicious and I remember reading Pippi together with my daughter... a favorite to this day ♥️

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  8. Happy Christmas from Harvest Lane Cottage,
    Laura

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  9. Just realized my star cookie cutter is not a Star of David. I like yours.

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    1. Thank you! I found it at my local bulk food store. They have so many cookie cutters to choose from.

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  10. Oh what a nice post on cookies! We have four daughters and we always made cookies when they were little girls, we would take one recipe a day in December and compile a huge tin of them for my dad for part of his Christmas present. We also made candy cane cookies and my married daughters still do. : )

    I look forward to making some of your cookie recipes you are sweet to share with us! I like to use almond flour and a stevia blend so I can share in the goodness.

    I've followed your blog here officially, I've followed it on Bloglovin, I had seen your blog somehow and knew I would enjoy it! I love meeting fellow Christian homemakers, a real treat for me.

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    1. Thank you! I love being able to connect with fellow Christian homemaker too. It is truly a blessing!

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