Christmas Wreath Cookies

and Delicate Rolled Christmas Cookies too!

Looking for a good old-fashioned Christmas Wreath Cookie recipe?

Crystal, a friend from a recent SBI conference, is a great foodie writer... I can almost smell her mother's Christmas cookie kitchen as she writes about it. Just give me one little bite of a Christmas cookie, today, right now. Yummmmm!

The Wonderful Smells of Christmas

By: Crystal Maleski

It’s no surprise that my favorite Christmas memories revolve around the wonderful smells from my mother’s kitchen. Not only was she a great cook, but she expressed herself artistically with her baking.

Every year, her lucky neighbors and friends were the lucky recipients of her beautifully decorated cookies. Each plate had a combination of Christmas Wreath Spritz cookies on the bottom and hand decorated roll-out cookies on top. If only we had thought to take pictures!

At the time, this was just something that Mom did; now I realize just how special those cookies were. I remember thinking we should really paint varnish over a few of those and preserve them as ornaments, but we never did.

I do have the recipes for those fantastic cookies that I’m happy to share. I’ll let you put your own artistic spin on how they should be decorated!

Mom’s Christmas Wreath Spritz Cookies
Yield 6 dozen

3 cups unsalted butter, softened (mom actually used Fleishman’s oleo, it’s your choice what to use)
2 cups granulated sugar
4 egg yolks, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
8 cups, all purpose flour

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolks and the vanilla, mixing well. Combine the salt and the flour and add to the butter mixture. Stir until just combined. Place dough in a cookie press and form wreaths. Decorate with green sprinkles and diced maraschino cherries.. Note: Mom used to pipe out a long string of thick textured rope with the cookie press and then use her hands to break off 3” pieces and form those into a round wreath.

Delicate Rolled Christmas Cookies

½ pound unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 Tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups flour

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add mix and vanilla, mixing well. Add the flour and combine until just mixed. Cover and chill dough slightly. Roll out a small amount of dough (this is important, work in small batches!) thinly. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. Place shapes on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375°F for 8-10 minutes. Do not brown. Cool completely before decorating.

Frosting for Rolled Cookies

2 cups confectioner’s sugar
A pea sized amount of Crisco
1 teaspoon vanilla
Milk (start with 1 teaspoon and add 1 teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved)

Mix all ingredients together, paste food dye can be added as desired.

Crystal has carried on her mother’s tradition of cooking and baking and shares her favorite recipes, free weekly dinner menus, and printable grocery shopping lists at MakeDinnerEasy.com.

Visit her site for more recipes!!