One of my most cherished childhood memories is baking Christmas cookies with my mom. She would pull over two kitchen chairs for my sister and me to stand on so we could reach the countertop and get our hands in the flour. We’d watch her line up all of the ingredients, preheat the oven, and prepare the cookie sheets. She’d flip to the back of the recipe rolodex and pull out three cards that were stained with butter splotches and a dusting of flour. It was holiday tradition that we would start with spritz cookies, a butter/sugar cookie that was made special with the magical ingredient, almond extract. Once the butter was creamed and the sugar added, my mom would open up the tiny brown bottle of almond extract, and say “it smells like Christmas now.”
Last weekend, I finally got around to some Christmas baking. This isn’t one of our traditional family recipes, but let’s just say it was inspired by my memory and the “Christmas” smell of almond extract. I’m kind of in love with these cookies because of the minimal amount of ingredients. And as far as baking goes, they’re pretty foolproof. I subbed in as many “healthier” ingredients as I could, but they’re still a pretty sweet and buttery indulgence.
Pass down your own recipe memories by giving the gift of handwritten recipes… (because your own writing says love better than a recipe in an email). Order your recipe cards by Wednesday for pre-Christmas delivery. Click here.
adapted from marthastewart.com
