The Daily Balance

So last week I shared some of my new holiday treat creations, but what about those people who prefer the classics? You know, the candy cane cookies, the Italian anise cookies (The Mister’s fave) and all the other old school cookies that have been feeding Santa for — well, as long as we can remember.

My Grandma is the queen of classic Christmas cookies and she starts making them the day after Thanksgiving. Needless to say, there are cookies EVERYWHERE this time of year, she can’t get rid of them! As the ever-so-accommodating granddaughter, I’m always happy to do what I can to take some off her hands (anything to make my GRANDMAS life easier )

Aren’t they delicious?

Instead of just teasing you all with my scrumptious picture (notice that I omitted the photo of me stuffing my face ), I figured I’d provide the recipe so you can make some, as well!

In my experience, I’ve found that Santa likes a wide variety of offerings, so it never hurts to make extra

Candy Cane Cookies

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon red food color

1. Stir together 1 cup sugar, the butter, milk, vanilla, peppermint extract and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Divide dough in half. Stir food color into 1 half. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

2. Heat oven to 375ºF.

3. For each candy cane, shape 1 rounded teaspoon dough from each half into 4-inch rope by rolling back and forth on floured surface. Place 1 red and white rope side by side; press together lightly and twist. Place on ungreased cookie sheet; curve top of cookie down to form handle of cane.

4. Bake 9 to 12 minutes or until set and very light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Next — Italian Anise Cookies

No fancy ingredients of complicated steps here! These cookies are simple, colorful and incredibly delicious.

You’ll need:

The Dough

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp anise extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Decoration: multicolored nonpareils

GLAZE

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 4 to 5 tsp milk 
• 1 tsp anise extract

All whisked in a small bowl until smooth.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Coat baking sheet(s) with nonstick spray, or use nonstick foil.

Dough: Beat first 5 ingredients in a large bowl with mixer until blended. On low speed, beat in next 3 ingredients until blended.

Drop rounded measuring teaspoons of dough 2 in. apart onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes until bottoms are light golden. Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Dip tops of cookies in Glaze and immediately top with sprinkles (nonpareils). Let set. Store airtight at room temperature up to 2 weeks or freeze up to 1 month.

 ENJOY!

What is your favorite classic Christmas cookie? If you have a link, please share it in the comments!

12 Responses to “Make it – Classic Christmas Cookies”

1. VeggieGirl said:

   CLASSIC deliciousness!!

   My favorite Christmas cookie = gingerbread men!

   http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/gingerbread-people

   Posted on December 14, 2009 at 11:02 am | Reply
2. Sagan said:

   Looks super good! I adore shortbread at Christmastime.

   Posted on December 14, 2009 at 11:05 am | Reply
3. Shelley said:

   those look truly delicious

   Posted on December 14, 2009 at 12:26 pm | Reply
4. stina said:

   I made the candy cane cookies one year and found them to be such a pain in the rear I vowed to never make them again. Any tips on making them?

   Posted on December 14, 2009 at 4:23 pm | Reply
5. clare said:

   I just made the Anise cookies last night and they were FANTASTIC! My grandma always used to make a cookie very similar to these, but she never wrote her recipes down (she had them all memorized…crazy, huh?). These were almost just like I remember hers being. I can’t wait to share them with my parents and the rest of my family!! Thank you for the great recipe

   Posted on December 15, 2009 at 3:07 pm | Reply
6. thedailybalance said:

   clare — SO glad to hear it!

   Posted on December 15, 2009 at 3:12 pm | Reply
7. wireless network troubleshooting said:

   Thank you for the great post. this was exactly what I needed today!

   Posted on December 23, 2009 at 7:28 am | Reply
8. Christmas countdown… | The Daily Balance said:

   [...] will be spent cooking with my mom, wrapping last minute gifts and most likely stuffing my face with Christmas [...]

   Posted on December 23, 2009 at 11:44 am | Reply
9. Christmas Recap | The Daily Balance said:

   [...] I already have everything I need, laughing till my stomach hurt and debating about which one of my grandma’s cookies are the [...]

   Posted on December 28, 2009 at 1:56 pm | Reply
10. Daily Delish - Honey! Pass the mustard ;) | The Daily Balance said:

    [...] ay not have been THE MOST healthy snack, but hey, anything beats stuffing your face with leftover Christmas [...]

    Posted on December 29, 2009 at 9:44 am | Reply
11. Jermaines Later said:

    This is a nice blog i must say, usually i don’t post comments on others’ blogs but would like to say that this post really forced me to do so!

    Posted on January 8, 2010 at 7:54 pm | Reply
12. Patricia said:

    I’ve been waiting a lifetime to find this recipe. My mother made these cookies not only at Christmas, but simply because she felt like it that day. Mom never wrote recipes down and when she passed away, she took the recipe with her. Thank you so much for posting this recipe and I made them today and they were exactly as I remembered

    Posted on January 31, 2010 at 1:14 am | Reply