Family Christmas Cookies

Author: Bea Sheftel

We call these “Family Christmas Cookies” because the whole family helps make them on Christmas Eve—right before Midnight service. The women in our family gather around the kitchen table for the traditional making of “Family Christmas Cookies,” while the men watch Christmas movies in the living room.

My brother's children, Julie and Karen, bring their own designs which they’ve traced from their coloring books and cut out of card stock. Julie likes Care Bears and Karen likes Barbie.

My son, Rob, prefers the traditional Christmas figures of stars, stockings, and Santa, while my sister's son, Bill, prefers his favorite wrestler. Her daughter, Gina, cuts out angels. Even Nana has her preference. She uses special cookie cutters bought many years ago.

A double batch of cookie dough is made and the women take turns rolling out sections for the children to cut out their own designs. Each child flattens the dough and places his/her design on top of the dough, and then uses a dull, safe knife to cut around the edges.

When they’re all cut out, Nana puts the cookie creations in the oven, one tray at a time. Knowing each child is anxious to see their own design, Nana mixes the cookies up so that everyone has a cookie or two baking at the same time.

While the cookies bake, we keep the children busy making icing for those delicious treats, but waiting for the cookies to cool is the hardest part and takes a lot of patience. Everyone is anxious to put the icing on, so we keep the children busy by singing Christmas Carols.

It’s a family tradition to quickly grab and eat up any cookies that have fallen apart during cooking process.

As soon as the cookies are cool enough to ice, we begin. It doesn't matter if Santa's face comes out smeared, or the wrestler looks like he's scowling. The fun is in the experience of decorating the cookies as a family and then, of course, eating them. But there is more to our family tradition than that.

Nana's batch of cookies is always special because her cookie shapes tell the Nativity story. She has Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the three wise men, a few camels, sheep, shepherds, and angels.

Once all the cookies are cooled and iced, the men come in from the other room and join us. The adults enjoy piping hot coffee, while the children enjoy chocolate milk or hot chocolate. Then we sit down at the dining room table and wait for Papa to begin his annual Christmas Nativity story. After he tells the story, he asks, "Whose birthday is it?"

The children all respond in unison, "Jesus".

Each child is given a nativity cookie and we sing "Happy Birthday Jesus." Papa hugs and kisses each child and reminds us all, "This is what Christmas is all about."

Then with Nana staying home to rest and mind the children, the adults go out into the cold and walk to church. Many Christmases the wind blew bitterly and snow covered our heads before we reached the church, but it didn't matter. We were together, as a family, celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior.

Family Christmas Cookies Recipe

1/2 C butter
2/3 C packed brown sugar
(substitute 1 cup of Splendid; a low calorie sweetener.)
1 egg
1/3 C molasses
(substitute 1/3 cup of mashed prunes or apple sauce)
2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 Tsp baking soda
2 Tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tsp ground ginger
1/2 Tsp ground nutmeg

Instructions

Prepare your cookie shapes by tracing them from a coloring book.
Transfer shapes onto poster board and cut them out.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Cream 1/2 cup of butter or margarine.
Add brown sugar to cream mixture and beat.
Beat egg and molasses into cream mixture.
In a separate bowl, combine 2 3/4 cups of flour, baking soda, and spices. Add to butter mixture and blend well.
On a floured surface, roll dough to a 1/8 inch thickness.
Take your poster board shapes and trace around dough with a dull knife. Cut the edges and place cookies on greased cookie pan.
Bake for 6 to 8 minutes.
Let cool thoroughly.

Frosting

Cream 1/3 cup butter.
Gradually add 2 cups confectioners sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
Beat until smooth.
Put mixture into a pastry bag with small tip and decorate cookies.

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