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This recipe originally came from an older 1960's Betty Crocker Cookbook. Christmas would hardly seem like Christmas without fancifully shaped and decorated cookies.
Decorated cookies are thought to have originated in pre-Christian times as offerings to various gods. You and your children will love these cookies.
The honey in this recipe makes these cookies melt in your mouth. This has always been a favorite cookie of my children. They are now adults, but we still make these Christmas Cookies
every year.
Every Christmas, my daughters and I carry
on the family tradition by spending a day baking. New traditions
include, Bing Crosby's Christmas songs, lunch, and pre-made cookie
dough, that we make at home so we're not lugging all the ingredients
around. We each take a few recipes and during the week mix up the
love, and store it in ziploc bags. That way the only task is baking
and decorating. Much easier!
More favorite
Cookie Recipes and
Secrets To Making Perfect Cookies. Also learn
How To Have A Successful Holiday Cookie Exchange or Cookie Swap.
Merry Christmas Cookies Recipe
Recipe Type:
Cookies,
Christmas Cookie,
Honey
Yields: 5 dozen cookies
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Ingredients:
1/3 cup
vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1
egg
2/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 3/4 cups all-purpose
flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Milk Frosting (see recipe below)
NOTE: Our family usually doubles this cookie recipe.
Preparation:
In a large bowl, cream vegetable shortening, sugar, egg, honey, and lemon extract until light and fluffy. Sift in flour, baking soda, and salt; stir until well blended.
Refrigerate dough at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease Cookie Sheets or line with Silicone Baking Mats.
On a lightly floured board, roll dough 1/4-inch thick with your Rolling Pin; cut into desired shapes with your favorite Cookie Cutters. Place 1-inch apart onto prepared cookie sheets.
Always leave room between cookies on the cookie sheets. If the cookies are extremely large cookies, adjust the space.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light brown. Remove from oven and cool on wire cooling racks.
Prepare Milk Frosting. When cookies have cooled, frost with the prepared Milk Frosting and decorate as desired.
Yields approximately 5 dozen cookies.
Milk Frosting:
We usually triple the frosting recipe.
 1 cup powdered (confectioners') sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons milk
Food coloring of your choice
In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar, lemon extract, and enough milk to make frosting easy to spread.
Tint, if desired, with a few drops of food coloring.
We like to thin the frosting with additional milk so we can just dip the tops of the cookies in
the frosting. We then decorate as we wish.
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As you
can see, my family and I have lots of fun decorating our Merry Christmas cookies! |
Comments from readers:
Thank you so much for
publishing this cookie recipe. My mom always made these from a cookie book from the
1930’s. The original had depression-era substitutes of Karo light syrup for
honey. They also had a dark version with molasses (or karo dark). I have
moved several times and somewhere along the line the books with these were lost. - Rosemary (12/10/06)
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