Christmas Cookie Connoisseur

Since my move to the Keys, one of the holiday traditions that I miss the most is the annual cookie decorating with my sister, Mary Beth. We began taking over the cookie baking from our mom when I was in my late teens, and since Mary Beth is ten years younger, she was a child cookie maven! We usually produced five or six different types of cookies, and over the years, honed the variety to our favorites (in other words, those which we wanted to eat). We used to do a marathon one day event which often ended with some hysterical, laugh-till-we-cried comment out of our happy exhaustion. Later, to fit the cookies around families, and work, we divvied up the list and baked and exchanged but always, until the last couple of years, got together to decorate our favorite sour cream cookie. With Christmas carols playing (am I imagining remembering the Hallelujah chorus as we finished our last cookies) and Mary Beth's incredibly beautifully decorated house as the setting, the time together allowed a catching up period in our lives. My mood would lift and I would finally have the Christmas spirit.

The cookie recipe came from a neighbor in our childhood in Youngstown, Ohio name Dorothy Bevan. My mother had a set of cookie cutters which we treasured and are now in Mary Beth's kitchen. I have my own set which was given to me by a cousin, Teddy Grey, who is deceased after succumbing to complications of Juvenile diabetes. Teddy found them in his own mother's kitchen after she passed away and handed them to me one Christmas in an old Christmas card box. I treasure them and even the vintage box they live in! The cutters were originally made in 1948 and are called "Aunt Chick's cookie cutters." Cutters from the original molds are reproduced today but the original sets are collectibles. The history of the cookie cutters can be found at http://www.grammascutters.com/chick.asp . I remember proudly taking the Easter Bunny cookie to my class in elementary school for my birthday sharing treat. My mom wasn't very artistic, but those cookies were works of art in my eyes.

The recipe for the cookies even gave me a photo op in the Cleveland Plain Dealer back in 1977. I had sent the recipe in for some reason that I cannot remember, and the cookie was selected and a photographer sent to my house. I found the photo and article tucked away in some of my mom's things once. I guess it didn't matter after all that I didn't make National Honor Society because I was recognized for my cookie baking skills. Even more bizarre was the mention of same in my first husband's eulogy at his funeral. Doug had a fine appreciation for our cookies and was probably our biggest fan. I was not really all that thrilled about having his girlfriend at the time of his death sum me up as his blond, Swedish first wife who was an incredible cookie baker... What did she know. I am not even really blond.

The real cookie artist, though, is my sister, who never ceases to amaze me with her absolutely gorgeous creations. Over the years we have included other persons in the decorating process, and actually, Mary Beth's husband has shown a bit of a creative flare in the decorating arena. Our sons, Sam and Dan, who are six weeks apart in age, always had to decorate a few each year. Sometimes that caused a bit of a cringe from MB who is a self pronounced perfectionist, but I think she finally has that part of her nature tamed. After all, it is a bit hard to see a perfectly baked cookie turned into a Jackson Pollack wannabe. Sam's version of decorating consisted of how high he could pile icing and how many silver dragees and colored sprinkles he could fit on a two inch star. Even I had a bit of a problem putting those cookies on the platters we gave away! I think they may have ended up on my hips instead.

When I asked Mary Beth if she had a picture I could post in my blog, her response was "of course, who doesn't take pictures of their cookies?" So here it is. And, if you want the recipe, you have to read the blog and ask me! I only share with those who care.