On Behalf of National Cookie Day, this post is part of a Cookie blog hop that is running today where you can find a dozen cookie recipes to help you find gems to add to your Christmas list of goodies.
There is nothing better than walking into a kitchen in
December. The smells bring back so many memories. My grandmother lived in a two
story farm house with us until I was twelve, making Christmas at our house a
mixture of my grandmother’s favorite goodies and my mom’s. Grandma’s specialties were cookies, cinnamon
brittle, peanut brittle, and divinity. My mom’s specialties were sugared nuts,
popcorn balls, fudge, toffee, and liquor laced fruitcake.
As you can see our house was full of wonderful
smells the whole month of December. My brother’s and I loved the failed
batches. The batches my mom and grandma deemed not good enough to give to
friends, but good enough to make the kids happy.
My favorite cookie my grandma made at Christmas was
the spritz cookie. They are the ones that are put through a cookie press and
make designs, like trees and stars. There was one disc that I think was a dog
but we called it a reindeer at Christmas time. The cookies melted in your mouth
and were just the right touch of sweet and almond.
Here’s the recipe:
Spritz
Cookies
 |
Photo
by: mominml from allrecipes.com
|
2 ½ cups flour
½ tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 ½ cup powdered sugar
1 egg
½ tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
1) Preheat
the oven to 400˚ F. Sift together the flour and salt; set aside.
2) In
a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the egg, almond
extract, and vanilla extract. Gradually, blend in the sifted ingredients. Fill
a cookie press with dough and shoot cookies about 1 ½ inches apart onto an
ungreased cookie sheet. If you like, decorate with sugar or sprinkles before baking. 3) Bake
for 6 to 8 minutes in the preheated oven.
Makes 3 dozen.
In my Christmas novella, Christmas Redemption, the hero returns home after being in prison
and walks into his mother’s kitchen while she’s baking.
Excerpt:
The leafless cottonwood trees
appeared stark and ominous hovering around the farm house. The two-story
structure held pleasant memories. His mother’s cooking and laughter. Would she
welcome him back or follow her husband’s lead? His stomach knotted, and he once
again wished Tessa were by his side.
A multi-colored mutt ran out
of the barn barking. Half-way to the wagon he stopped and looked back toward
the barn. A girl of about eight strolled out of the building wrapped in a heavy
coat, scarf, and mittens.
“Button. Stop barking,” she
said when he stopped the wagon in front of the house. His mother’s eyes stared
at him from the child’s face. This was his sister Grace.
“Is your ma or pa home?” he
asked uncertain what to do. He wanted to pick her up and hug her, but reasoned
she wouldn’t care for a stranger grabbing her.
“Ma’s in the kitchen.
Christmas is coming.” She put a hand on the dog’s head.
“It sure is. How about you
take me to the house then rustle your ma out of the kitchen so I can talk with
her?” He started walking to the familiar front door.
Grace grabbed his hand. “We
can’t go in that door. Ma doesn’t like snow on her wool rug.” She tugged him to
the back of the house.
Van smiled and allowed his
sister to haul him around to the back of the house. The garden patch looked
larger. And the cellar which he’d help dig was grown over sprouting pale weeds
through the six inches of snow.
Grace pulled the screen door
open, then shoved the door into the kitchen. Familiar aromas wafted around
Van’s head. He sniffed and savored each spicy nuance.
His ma
turned. “Grace, shut the door, I have bread ris—”
Ma was the same other than
gray wisps in her dark brown hair. She blinked, and her hands clasped in front
of her chest.
“Hello, Ma.”
“Van?” She took a step toward
him. He smiled and nodded, and she lunged into his arms, crying.
He hugged her tight as tears
burned his eye sockets. His heart, that had been torn in two when he never
heard from her, slowly melded back together. “I’ve missed you,” he said,
holding on, wishing he had all those years back.
She drew out of his arms and
studied him. “My, you turned into one handsome man.” She wiped at the tears on
her face with her apron. Then motioned to Grace. “Come say hello to your big
brother.” His mother’s smile warmed him like a toasty fire on a cold day.
“My brother? I thought pa
said—” Grace stared up at him quizzically.
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