In my childhood home, we did not do Christmas cookies but I had a dear great aunt, Blanche, who would send us each (and she had many, many great nieces and nephews) a little box of cookies every Christmas. She was very poor and lived in a tiny house that always smelled musty with a hint of stale cigarettes and yesterday's beer. In the late fall, she would dedicate her days to baking for her beloved nieces and nephews so she would have gifts to give to us. She had no children of her own.
I have to admit the cookies were stale by the time Christmas arrived for she had no freezer. My siblings would not eat them but I did. This gesture, done with great love, was quite meaningful to me throughout my childhood.
After she died, I began my own Christmas baking tradition. I started small but over the years have built quite a library of recipes. Each year I try a new recipe of two. Some become part of our cookie tradition, some don't.
This year's best new cookie is Toffee Almond Sandies. A close runner-up - Key Lime Meltaways
Always on my list of favorite Christmas cookies:
Snickerdoodles
Triple Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies
Hazelnut Crinkles
Brown Sugar Hazelnut Rounds
Chocolate Crinkles
Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
Spritz
Thumbprint Cookies
Reindeer Drops
Rossettes
Russian Teacakes
Some might call our cookie feast a little over the top or say I put way to much energy into something you can buy but this is one symbol of love precious to my childhood memories. Those memories came from a little, lonely old lady who spent most of her time in an alcoholic daze until it came time to bake for us. I'll never forget the love found in my little box of stale Christmas cookies.
Today I bake with my children and my children bake for me. What precious memories we've made together and now it is time to feast!
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