“Christmas cookies without sprinkles are like raisins without wrinkles, and like sleigh bells without tinkles are Christmas cookies without sprinkles”
A rainy dark day again today, but it is a warm day which makes the rain more tolerable. I need to go out to do a few errands a bit later, but I have a short list. Yesterday I had no intention of doing much, but I did. It all started with a potholder. I pulled one out of the drawer and found it had been gnawed. I was grossed out by the idea of a rodent in my kitchen drawer so I pulled out everything, threw away the gnawed and washed the washable. I scrubbed the drawer. In it I found a cache of rice from a bag of rice I had foolishly left in a cabinet. That beastie had to have carried each kernel through two cabinets and up to that second drawer. A feat of sorts I suppose. The rice came from a long time back so I doubt the beastie is still around. My cat has not cabinet watched for a long while. Now I can boast the neatest of kitchen drawers.
It was always an event when my mother made her Christmas sugar cookies. She had silver cookie cutters made from heavy aluminum. I remember a Christmas tree, a bell, a reindeer, Santa carrying his sack and a star. My mother did all the making, all the rolling and all the baking. We got the best job, the decorating. When the cookies were ready for our artistic touches, my mother would put on the table bowls of different colored frosting and sprinkles. My mother let us decorate any way we wanted. The trees, of course, were always green, but we decorated them with sprinkles and colored jimmies (the kind you put on ice cream which I know some of you call sprinkles. Around here they were and are jimmies). The sprinkles looked like sugar and were green or red. I’d concentrate so hard trying to sprinkle the red to look like loops of tinsel on my tree then use the colored jimmies for lights. Santa, of course, had a red suit, a white beard and a white pom-pom on the end of his hat. My sisters’ cookies were always thick with frosting. They were the heaviest to lift. The finished cookies were put on racks until the frosting was dry, but we each got to pick one to eat. Every time, we picked one of our own.
I have the same cookies cutters. One was my mother’s and the rest I collected along the way as did my sister Moe. I put the cutters out in a basket every Christmas. They remind me of that messy kitchen table, the bowls of icing and how proud we all were of our beautifully decorated cookies.
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Tags: bell, Christmas, Christmas tree, Cookie cutter, reindeer, Santa Claus, Sprinkles, star, Sugar cookie
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December 17, 2012 at 1:32 pm
I love sugar cookies but We rarely made those at home but my grandmother made them every Christmas 🙂 So did my neighbor when I moved up to this county. She made a huge bucket for her and her children’s families and just as many for me 🙂 🙂 🙂
We used to bake ginger breads every Christmas though and those cutters had the shapes of hearts, trees, circles, ginger men and women and pigs. Pigs are probably the biggest Christmas symbol we have here. My best friends family had horse and goat shaped cutters and I always wanted to have those too 🙂
Frosting on cakes however was rare and still is I think, those were the ones one bought at a bakery and the cookies were huge with some text on in red, green and white 🙂 no jimmies though (we call them strössel).
I’m driving to stores every day after work now so I don’t have to drive anywhere after Sunes surgery. I can’t say I like it but it will be easier to stay at home all the vacation if needed.
Have a great day!
Christer.
December 17, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Christer,
I also love sugar cookies but haven’t made them in years. My sister still makes a huge batch.
One year I made gingerbread cookies and out everyone’s name on them, but most times my mother didn’t make them. They aren’t as common as sugar cookies. I can’t get over that the pig is the biggest Christmas symbol. How did that come about?
Cakes and cup cakes are definitely frosted here. A few don’t call for frosting but most do. Not a whole lot of different cookies get frosted but definitely sugar cookies.
I just bought the dog two cookies for Christmas at the dog bakery. One is a Santa with a beard and a red hat and the other is a snowman. Both are decorated!
When I’d have school vacations, I loved staying home and being lazy. I hope you’ll enjoy yours!
December 18, 2012 at 12:13 pm
The pig has probably always been the most important animal we’ve had here. Poor people couldn’t afford any bigger animals and the pigs eats almost anything, they could even let it out in the forest and it would have a great life.
So most meat came from pigs and it was slaughtered in the late autumn and they made all kinds of delicious things from it and nothing was wasted. Everything was ready to eat around Christmas time too. So that’s why it became a symbol for Christmas.
The pig has also followed us from when we had our pagan gods, like Thor and Odin. They had a pig at Valhalla that was slaughtered every evening and as long as they saved all bones he resurrected the next morning again, very practical 🙂
Most of our Christmas and easter symbols usually have something to to with our pagan past 🙂
Christer.
December 18, 2012 at 12:52 pm
Thanks, Christer
I was really curious about that pig! I like a good mix of the Pagan and the Christian-it is much more interesting that way.
We aren’t so lucky here. The first settlers came to have religious freedom and didn’t bring any other sorts of rituals with them-a bit boring I think!
December 17, 2012 at 2:00 pm
ginger cookies are great too
December 17, 2012 at 2:02 pm
morpfy,
And coincidentally I am making some this year!!
December 17, 2012 at 2:03 pm
I have to admit, I’m a convinced cookie buyer. I can’t remember that we made cookies when I was young, but a kind of traditional waffles for New Years Eve (translated krumkake?) made with an electric iron. My grandma made the dough and I had to roll them while they were hot. Eaten plain or filled with applesauce, but without Streusel (jimmies, sprinkles, strössel).
December 17, 2012 at 2:20 pm
Birgit,
I am making three different cookies this year and maybe one more if I still have any energy left. I always make orange cookies as they remind my friend of the cake her mother made, and this year I’m making ginger cookies and chunky lime-coconut cookies. I may also make a chocolate cookie as I bought the ingredients.
Making cookies is a huge tradition here. Everyone I know makes them and luckily they share!
December 17, 2012 at 2:07 pm
Seasame Salmon with Stir Fry Vegetables
What You Need
4
salmon fillets (1 lb.)
1/4
cup KRAFT Lite Asian Toasted Sesame Dressing, divided
2
tsp. olive oil
2
carrots, cut into matchlike sticks
1
cup sugar snap peas
1
red pepper, cut into strips
1
green onion, thinly sliced
Make It
HEAT oven to 450ºF.
PLACE fish on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Brush with 2 Tbsp. dressing. Bake 12 to 15 min. or until fish flakes easily with fork.
MEANWHILE, heat oil in large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add next 3 ingredients; cook and stir 4 min. or until crisp-tender. Remove from heat; stir in remaining dressing.
SPOON cooked vegetables onto serving plate; top with fish and onions.
Kitchens Tips
Special Extra
Add 1/2 cup bean sprouts or 1 drained 8-oz. can sliced water chestnuts to hot oil in skillet with carrots, peas and peppers.
December 17, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Morpfy,
This recipe sounds delicious and different for salmon. I’ll copy it and pass it along to my fish loving friends.
Thanks!!
December 17, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Hi Kat,
We didn’t do cookies at Christmas. I don’t remember baking anything, really. My mother might have done date nut bread or gingerbread but that is all.
Much later on my friend invited me to do Christmas baking with her at her house. She always did trays of goodies for everyone. Baklava, peanut balls, shortbread cookies, springle. I had a pizzelle iron and we did those one year. She found a Swedish cookie iron to do the deep fried cookies.
One time the 3 year old granddaughter was “helping” us. She and I sat on the kitchen floor with the molded shortbread cookies and decorated them. We spilled silver dragoons and candy stars all over the place but it was cool. After they were baked, we painted them with colored frosting. Still sitting on the floor. Still spilling stuff everywhere. Best cookie baking session ever.
I have a bunch of shortbread molds, including Christmas ones, but the only one I can find now is a springtime bunny. Not quite the same.
Crappy weather here. Damp and cold. I believe some hibernation is called for even though groceries must be done.
Enjoy the day.
December 17, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Hi Caryn,
Every family I knew did cookies. My mother made several kinds but sugar was always the favorite. One Christmas school got out early so I went up to my mother’s and we baked every day. We must have made 8 or 9 different cookies. It was so much fun baking together and trying out new recipes.
I make date nut bread for my sister using my grandmother’s recipe. My mother used to make it then asked me to one year, and I was then expected to make it always so I did. I make fudge as well. My mother used to make a million peanut butter balls and would freeze some then surprise us with them long after Christmas. My sister made some for me this year. I also make English toffee. One year I did pizzelles also but they took too much time and effort for me.
My mother made biscotti for me, and they were delicious.
I did all my errands, and now I can hibernate!!
December 17, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Pizzelles are a great cure for insomnia. When I woke up at 1AM and couldn’t get back to sleep, I would go downstairs, throw together the batter and sit down to make pizzelles in my 2 pizzelle iron. Guaranteed half way through the batter my eyes would be drooping and I’d be nodding off. The batter went in the refrigerator and I went up to bed for a restful sleep. And the next morning, there would be cookies! 😀
December 17, 2012 at 3:27 pm
Caryn,
I think that’s the best way to make pizzelles!
December 17, 2012 at 6:40 pm
I am one of the few people that doesn’t like sugar cookies because they are not made with chocolate. I don’t like gingerbread or anything that is not from the coca plant. I am a chocoholic and only splurge my calories on chocolate cookies. Home made cookies in my house come from a tub that we buy at Costco and scoop out the chocolate chip toll house variety onto a baking sheet. The rest of the time I am an Oreo lover. Don’t try to pass off those fake cheap ones like Hydrox, my taste buds know the difference. It’s got to be Nabisco Oreos. I don’t like the vanilla ones or the stuffed ones because they have too much cream and the balance of the cookie is not correct. I could sit down and devour an entire package in one sitting. Bah Humbug!
December 17, 2012 at 6:53 pm
Bob,
I too adore chocolate but I’m happy with just about any dessert.
My father loved Hydrox, and I never understood that. He’d be severely disappointed to find out they’re not made any more. I have always been an Oreo fan!
I am also making a chocolate cookies for Christmas: a double chocolate cookies so you’d be quite happy.