Moms Christmas Cookies Food

MOM'S CHRISTMAS FRUITCAKE COOKIES

Steps:

• The day before: chop dates into small pieces and put in a glass bowl. Add rum. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 8 hours, or overnight, to absorb the rum. You can leave this step out if you want but I find it makes the dates more delicious and the cookies have more flavor.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Dice candied cherries and pineapple into small pieces and place in a very large bowl; I use the top of my cake carrier. Add pecans, followed by dates. Add 1 cup flour. Toss well to coat all of the pieces and break them up so they are not sticking together.
• Whisk baking soda into the milk and let it dissolve.
• Mix shortening into the fruit. Add remaining flour, sugar, eggs, orange juice, nutmeg, salt, and milk-baking soda mixture. Mix together with your hands just until you no longer see the flour. Try not to overmix. The batter will be very dense.
• Use a small ice cream scoop or two teaspoons to drop the cookies onto the prepared pans, about 1 inch apart.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on wire cooling racks.

MOM'S CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Steps:

• Mix butter, brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon white sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Add egg yolk and vanilla and mix until well combined. Blend in flour gradually. Cover and chill in the refrigerator, 8 hours to overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place remaining 2 tablespoon white sugar on a plate.
• Remove dough from the refrigerator. Shape into small balls and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Dip a glass into the sugar and press on each ball to flatten.
• Bake in the preheated oven, switching racks halfway through, until edges are golden, 7 to 9 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool, 8 to 10 minutes more.
• While the cookies are cooling, mix butter and powdered sugar until blended. Mix in milk and vanilla.
• Frost cooled cookies with frosting. Press sprinkles into the frosting while still soft.

MOM'S CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Steps:

• Put the first 5 ingredients in a bowl.
• Beat well with an electric mixer.
• Add the flour.
• Mix gently with a spoon until well blended.
• Cover and put in the refrigerator.
• Chill well.
• Roll the dough out on a flat, floured surface.
• Do not roll the dough out too thin or too thick. I usually roll it out to about a 1/4 inch thick.
• Cut your cookies out and put them on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake in the oven for 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees.
• **Note** do not overbake. I usually take them out of the over when the bottom of the cookies are slightly brown.
• Let cool in a single layer on wax paper.
• When they are cool, frost and decorate with colored sugars.

MOM'S CHRISTMAS SUGAR CUT-OUT COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper.
• Mix confectioners' sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, and almond extract in a bowl with an electric mixer until it comes together well and butter is not clumpy. Slowly mix in baking soda and cream of tarter, then flour. When the dough becomes tougher to mix, use your hands to mash and knead until the dough is completely formed.
• Transfer dough to a large, floured work surface. Carefully roll to a thickness of about 1 centimeter or a little more; the thicker the dough, the softer the cookie. (These cookies will puff up in the oven.) Add flour to your work surface, the dough, and the rolling pin as needed.
• Cut out as many shapes as you can cleverly fit in the dough. Remove any extra dough from the perimeters of your cookies. Save all the scraps and roll into another ball for the next round of rolling and cutting out cookies.
• Delicately transfer the cookies to the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 1 inch of space between each one.
• Bake one tray at a time on the middle rack of the preheated oven, until cookies are still white on top and have fluffed up, 7 to 8 minutes. If they brown lightly along the edges, they should be removed immediately. Let the cookies sit on the tray for 1 minute and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool while you bake the second sheet of cookies.
• While cookies are cooling, prepare frosting by beating butter, egg white, and vanilla together in a bowl until creamy. Slowly mix in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Divide frosting into smaller bowls. Add 2 to 3 drops food coloring per bowl and mix well.
• Apply a thick layer of frosting to cooled cookies, spreading as smoothly as you can. Leave cookies on wire racks and cover with waxed paper. Let sit until frosting has hardened, 8 hours to overnight.