Tradition! Our Favorite Family Christmas Cookies

Neither my mother nor my grandmother liked to bake. I laugh every time someone tells me what wonderful baker my mother was. I know full well that she made Pillsbury Slice & Bake cookies, Betty Crocker brownies, Dromedary gingerbread and Jello Instant Cheesecake. I believe that was her entire repertoire. It all came from a box - except the cookies which were refrigerated. My mother said that she hated the tedious "plop plop plop" of making cookies. The only exception was the Christmas cookies that both my mother and her mother made from scratch every year.

They always made Norwegian Butter cookies. I have no idea why - we aren't of Norwegian descent. The recipe came from the Fanny Farmer cookbook. I still have the annotated copy that my grandmother gave me for my 16th birthday. She doubled the recipe, divide the dough into thirds and dyed it red and green. She then used a cookie press to create white camels, green Christmas trees and red stars. I still have her vintage cookie press, but its really hard to use. No wonder she only baked once a year!

My mother also doubled the recipe, but avoided the difficult cookie press. She refrigerated the dough and bravely rolled it out so we could make cookie cutter cookies. It's a very fragile shortbread-like dough and did not hold up well to rolling and cutting.

I now make the same recipe and refrigerate it. I then cut it into rounds and bake (after all I grew up on Slice & Bakes!) It is excellent as a thumbprint cookie dough, rolled in chopped nuts with a dollop of strawberry or raspberry jam. My kids don't like nuts so I just bake it in circles.

Oddly, the recipe calls for two cooked egg yolks. Family tradition requires turning the leftover egg whites into cornflake macaroons. This year I've made another minor break with tradition. I didn't have any cornflakes so instead I made meringues. It took 20 minutes to get nice firm peaks. I worried that I might burn out the motor of my old Sunbeam stand mixer, but it came through.  I made the meringues first and while they were sitting in the oven I made the butter cookie dough. I refrigerated it until the meringues were done and then baked the second set of cookies.

Norwegian Christmas Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Separate the eggs and hard cook the yolks.

Cream the butter and hard cooked egg yolks. Beat in the sugar and add the flour vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly. Put through a cookie press or arrange by teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. I iced mine with a little powdered sugar and a dash of almond extract diluted with 2% milk. I added food color remembering my Grandma's colorful cookies.

Meringue “Forgotten Kisses” cookies

• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2/3 cup superfine granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or finely chopped semisweet chocolate

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until fluffy but not at all dry. (Be careful not to over beat.) Add the sugar gradually, about 3 tablespoons at a time. When 1/2 of the sugar has been added, add the vanilla extract. Continue beating and adding remaining sugar in batches, until all of the sugar is dissolved and the meringue is very shiny and tight. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and chopped nuts. Working one teaspoon at a time, push a teaspoonful of meringue from the tip of 1 teaspoon with the back of another teaspoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving 1-inch of space between cookies. Place baking sheets in the preheated oven and turn the oven off. Leave the cookies (undisturbed) in the oven for at least 2 hours and up to overnight, or until cookies are crisp and dry.

Per Meringue Cookie: (48); Calories: 44; Total Fat: 2.5 grams; Saturated Fat:0.5 grams; Protein: 1 gram; Total carbohydrates: 5 grams; Sugar: 5 grams; Fiber: 0 grams; Cholesterol: 0 milligrams; Sodium: 3 milligrams