Christmas Cookies

Early this morning the thin white clouds looked steely gray as the winter sun crept above the hills. The bare trees were sharply silhouetted in dark lines. I heard an argument break out; the chirruping and scolding was easy to locate. Six or eight little chickadees chased each other loudly around the stark trunk of a sleeping oak. Suddenly, heralded by the noisy birds, the morning light changed from cold and distant to bright and near. The steel-gray clouds transformed into silver and the dead silhouettes became regal sentinels as the little birds brought life to the scene. Even their scolding voices changed to teasing banter as they flitted around the trees. I felt my heart quicken and my sleepy eyes awake as once again I found beauty in a cold winter land.

Today we made Christmas cookies! I will share our recipe, as it is my favorite. I never was a fan of the doughy sugar cookies. These are lightly and lemony with a crisp hint of cinnamon and nutmeg – the perfect accompaniment to a hot cup of spiced chai. Yummy!

Lemony Christmas Cookies

Sift together:

2 c Flour

1 t Bkng. Power

½ t Salt

½ t Cinnamon

¼ t Nutmeg

Heat together til butter melts:

1/3 c Butter

3 T Milk

In Large Bowl put:

2/3 c Sugar

Add Butter/Milk mixture

Add:

2 Egg Yolks**

½ t Lemon Extract

Mix in Dry Ingredients.

Chill

Roll and cut out with cookie cutters.

Bake at 400* for 3 ½ - 7 min (depending on size of cookie and oven accuracy)

**set aside egg whites to make a big jar of egg nog to drink while cutting the cookies J

We put on some Christmas music, made the afore mentioned egg nog, and grabbed all the cookie cutters from the cupboard. As you can see, the children had a blast. And, I’ve decided that no mom of young children should ever even attempt to make Christmas cookies without another adult present. Today Katie, a friend of mine, came to help. Her cheerful presence made cookie time so much more manageable… as well as the ensuing mess. If she hadn’t been here, I would have been vainly trying to be sure that no messes were made (HAH!) and we probably wouldn’t have had such a fun time.

Before we started decorating, each kid ate one little cookie with promises of another one, this time decorated, after lunch. Lydia, the poor little fourth-born, so wanted to contribute to the decorating! Finally, she chose herself as ‘Quality Control Manager’ and casually swiped a cookie that had been lavishly decorated by Phinehas. I just couldn’t take it from her! (The fortune of being a fourth!) The other kids didn’t begrudge her a bit as they knew their treats were coming.

We really did have a lovely time!