What happens when two friends of 40 years make their favorite Christmas Cookies together? It may be a whole lot more than you would imagine. – Watch as Chef Blondie and Miss Nancy spend a day together baking cookies and so much more.
Hello, my friends! Chef Blondie here. Today, I have a special treat for you. My friend, Nancy. We’re going to be making our famous Christmas cookies. She’s going to make gingerbread cookies and I’m going to be doing my famous sugar cookies.
Why We Decided to Make Christmas Cookies Together
Nancy and I have been best friends for almost 40 years. Nancy will tell you that it started out Rocky – a little rocky. But it all worked out, and after all these years, we’re closer than ever.
If you’ve followed this blog since 2018, you well know we used to do what we call “Yard Trash Day.” (See here and here.) We would make beautiful floral arrangements out of just stuff from our yards.
But this year we said you know what, let’s do something different. So, we decided to try Christmas cookies and see how that works out. I will do rolled sugar cookies, adapted from a recipe in an old Better Homes & Garden cookbook. I’ve used this recipe for over 40 years. Because I made them with my daughter many times, and she likes them so much, I call them Kathy’s Christmas Cookies.
Nancy decided go back even further and make gingerbread men from a recipe from a very old edition of the Joy of Cooking. The recipe poses many challenges, but the end product is tasty. The old recipe includes instructions on how to make templates for the gingerbread men, and it would be great fun when done with a child or grandchild.
So, watch our video and see how much fun two old friends can have when they make Christmas cookies together.
Kathy's Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup sifted powdered sugar
- ¾ cup butter or margarine
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Cream together sugar and butter.
- Beat in egg and vanilla.
- Stir together flour and baking powder.
- Stir into creamed mixture.
- Divide dough in half. Chill at least 1 hour.
- Roll half dough ⅛ inch thick on lightly floured surface. (Keep remaining dough chilled.)
- Cut with cookie cutters.
- Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sugar, if desired.
- Bake at 375° for 6 to 8 minutes.
- Remove from pan. Repeat with remaining dough.
Nancy's Gingerbread Men
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup white or brown sugar
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup white or brown sugar
- ½ cup dark molasses
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1 teaspoon soda
- ¼ teaspoon Cloves
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup water, if you roll the dough, or ⅓ cup, if you model it
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Blend butter and sugar until creamy.
- Beat in dark molasses.
- Resift all-purpose flour with soda, cloves, Cinnamon, ginger, and salt.
- Add the sifted ingredients to the butter mixture in about 3 parts, alternately with: ¼ cup water, if you roll the dough or ⅓ cup, if you model it.
- You may have to work in the last of the flour mixture with your hands if you are not using an electric mixer.
- Roll the dough first to any thickness you like. A good way to do this is to grease the bottom of a baking sheet and to roll the dough directly onto it.
- Now, cut out your figures.
- Bake the cookies for about 8 minutes or longer according to their thickness. Test them for doneness by pressing the dough with your finger. If it springs back after pressing, the gingerbread cookies are ready to be cooled on a rack.
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