Long before I was brought into the world, there was a tradition of Christmas cookie baking in my family. My aunt over at Terri's Kitchen has been the keeper of the cookies for many years and I've taken up the tradition over the last few years. The butter cookies started way back with my great grandmother and the recipe has been passed down along through my aunt to me.
My aunt always made chocolate chip cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, butter cookies and booze balls ( which I think I was too young to partake in). For the past few years I've done the chocolate chip and the tea cakes, but this year I took a stab at the butter cookies. I always remember the butter cookies being the most festive looking since they come in all different shapes and have sprinkles and fun colors.
I needed to procure a cookie press, which was more difficult than I expected. Despite the fact that the Target website claimed to have them, I couldn't find any in the stores. Luckily Party City came to the rescue or I would have had to try rolling out the dough and using cookie cutters.
The cookie dough is pretty simple to make, although the temperature has to be just right so it comes out of the cookie press right. At first I felt really stupid trying to use the press because according to the box all you do is squeeze the trigger on the side and the cookies come out but nothing was happening. After a few frustrating minutes wondering what I could be doing wrong I realized that the handle has to face a certain way or the press won't work ( actually I looked up the Cookie Pro instructional video which actually tells you how to position the handle, which is something the box leaves out). Once I got that then it was easy as pie... well easy as cookies. I think the cookie press might be my new favorite kitchen toy. You can make so many cookies so quickly and they come out in perfect little shapes. The press comes with 12 different disks to make your cookies in various shapes. I opted for Christmas tree shapes, as well as a few of the other traditional ones I remember growing up
One batch got green food coloring, since it seemed appropriate for the trees. I also decorated with green sugar, red sugar and colored dot sprinkles. With my fancy new stacking racks I got from Target I was able to cool all my cookies out on my kitchen table. Based on the way everyone has been gobbling up the butter cookies I'm pretty sure they're going over well. I don't think there will be any left for Santa...
Dad handled cooking the chocolate chip cookies and I made the dough for the tea cakes at the same time as I made the butter cookies then froze it to prepare in PA. The tea cakes are one of my favorites because they're buttery and covered in powdered sugar. A quick pop in the oven followed by a roll in the powdered sugar while still warm, then another roll in sugar when they are cooled off and presto! Yummy cookies!
So now we are prepared for Christmas, just in time since it's Christmas Eve!!! Now it's time to relax!
