Calling for Christmas cookies!!

[Shellyamc]

I thought it was the time of year for this section to shine

What cookies remind you of Christmas growing up?
What cookies could you not live without?
What cookies do you make every year?

Share share share!!

[Johnie]

Ginger snaps are my favorite cookie. I would give up any others if I could just have those.

I make my grandma's Christmas Rock cookies every year. Mike and my dad would have a fit if I didn't.

Hmm other than the Christmas Rocks I don't think anything reminds me of Christmas. Well fudge and divinity candy do but those aren't cookies.

[Shellyamc]

Ginger snaps are my favorite cookie. I would give up any others if I could just have those.

I make my grandma's Christmas Rock cookies every year. Mike and my dad would have a fit if I didn't.

Hmm other than the Christmas Rocks I don't think anything reminds me of Christmas. Well fudge and divinity candy do but those aren't cookies.

Ok very good

Now we want a recipe for Christmas rock cookies

[Johnie]

That I can do

Johnie Mae's Christmas Rock Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 ½ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons hot water
1 pound raisins
1 pound nuts (usually use walnuts)
1 pound dates
1 tablespoon cloves
Pinch salt
3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup candied cherries or mixed fruit for fruit cake (i use green and red candied cherries for color)

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and blend well. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water. Add to creamed mixture. Add raisins,nuts, dates, cloves, salt, flour and the cinnamon mixed together then add candied cherries. Add this mixture to the creamed mixture. Drop by teaspoons full on cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-8 minutes

[Shellyamc]

That I can do

Johnie Mae's Christmas Rock Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 ½ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons hot water
1 pound raisins
1 pound nuts (usually use walnuts)
1 pound dates
1 tablespoon cloves
Pinch salt
3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup candied cherries or mixed fruit for fruit cake (i use green and red candied cherries for color)

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and blend well. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water. Add to creamed mixture. Add raisins,nuts, dates, cloves, salt, flour and the cinnamon mixed together then add candied cherries. Add this mixture to the creamed mixture. Drop by teaspoons full on cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-8 minutes

Wow! Those sound really good! I may have to add that to my list

[Johnie]

They are very good. Mom says they remind her of fruitcake....but I don't like fruitcake and I love these cookies.

You've got to put some muscle in mixing all those ingredients though. I've actually broken a couple of mixers making them

[Britchick]

they sound good Johnie. I won a fruit cake last week and i love it! didn't used to but now with a cup of tea every afternoon! yum

[Mags]

Those sound great Johnie! Yum.I might give those a go. They sound like they have everything in them that I like in Xmas baking. I think in the UK our Christmas baking traditions are different. I am in full swing baking mince pies and shortbread. The Christmas fruit cakes and Christmas puddings are made and maturing away.
I am going to do some great American recipes for Xmas this year though - not particularly Xmassy but great all the same. My latest two discoveries are the Carrot cake 111 recipe from the Allrecipes site. I cant tell you how fantastic this recipe is. It has been asked for for Xmas. it is to die for - so moist and umptious.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Carrot-...II/Detail.aspx

These are going to be made on Xmas Eve too

http://www.dyannbakes.com/index.php?...tegory=brownie

Never tasted such great brownies. Nigellas dont even come close.

I might make some fudge or truffles as they always go down well at Xmas time too. Some more recipes would be great!

Margaret

[Johnie]

Oh I love a good carrot cake.

I've been making figgy pudding each Christmas since I got it into my head that I needed to know just exactly what a figgy pudding is. It's quite good.

[Tink]

Growing up? Mama didn't make cookies. She make "My {her} Christmas Cakes."

They are sorta, kinda like a fruit cake, but she used only raisins and walnuts. Essentially it was a sweet dough made with wine (zinfandel ). She lined a pie plate with it, then took more of the same, rolled it out, filled it with the raisin and nut mix, rolled it up and cut slices. She'd then put the slices in the layer of dough in the pie plate and tie a string around the outside of the lining dough to hold it together. When they were nearly baked through she'd ladle (and I do mean ladle!) on honey. When they were done she'd sprinkle them with nonpareils.

She also made strufoli. Little bits of sweet dough that she'd roll into a small (long) rope and cut into bits. She'd fry the dough, then layer them to form a Christmas tree shape. They held their shape due to more honey. And sprinkles of nonpareils went on those too.

She made pies for dessert too.

When I got older I used to make zillions of cookies. Then one fine year in the mid-80s, I used a sugar that wasn't pure cane. I've not done Christmas cookies (at that level) since! Now, I just do a few tried and true, and use cane sugar.

Herself is the true cookie baker in our house!! She'll be making molasses, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, linzer (those are mine ) shortbread (again, for moi aren't I lucky) sugar (cut out into Christmas shapes and frosted) and ... I can't remember them all!

I'll make pumpkin pie. Shellyamc's peanut butter blossoms, fudge, fudgie scotch ring... and a couple of other things.

Herself is also making a 'to die for' chocolate torte for Christmas dinner, and a pecan pie. She's making caramel pecan sticky buns for Christmas breakfast.

I'll make rolls and bread and sausage (hot Italian) roll...

We'll have a grand time cooking it all and stuffing our guests. It's not like we can eat it.

One thing that is very Christmas in Mama's house is homemade hot coca (not from a mix) in Santa mugs. Someone always gave us homemade Christmas cookies so we had those too. That's Mama's house. They still do it.

Mama always made a mince pie for my Grandfather. He loved it.

Eeeesh! I ramble.