It’s Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories 2011 and today’s featured topic is – Christmas Cookies – and the questions are:
Did your family ancestors make Christmas Cookies? How did you help? Did you have a favorite cookie?
Making Christmas cookies is still a holiday tradition in our family! In fact, my mom pulls out her vintage 1950’s Mirro Cooky Press each year to make dozens of wonderful sugar, caramel, and peanut butter cookies for our family to enjoy for Christmas!
A variety of cookie design disks came with mom’s cooky press. So when I asked my oldest brother, Elgin, which was his favorite Christmas cookie design, he said he didn’t have one. All he wanted was to eat freshly baked cookies — hot from the oven!! Eating freshly baked Christmas cookies was a must for my brother Jon too, but design was more important to him. I understand from mom that he wanted all of our Christmas cookies to be in the shape of dogs! Dogs?! Yep, he sure did, but mom wasn’t having none of that! Therefore she added Christmas trees, stars, and other festive shapes associated with Christmas with those dog cookies — LOL!
I don’t remember having a special cookie design growing up, but what I do remember is eating plenty cookie dough. Mom’s cookie dough (and cake dough too) was so-o-o-o good! When I recently asked her about sharing one of her cookie recipes for this post, she informed me that the cookies we loved so much came right from the cooky press cookbook that came with the press all those years ago. So if you’re in the mood for some great caramel cookies for the holidays, I posted the cookbook’s recipe for you below; enjoy!
Caramel Cookies
Time: 10 – 12 mins
Temp: 375 F
1 cup of shortening
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. of vanilla extract
3 3/4 cups of sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of soda
Directions:
Cream shortening; add sugar gradually and cream thoroughly
Add beaten eggs and vanilla extract
Sift flour, soda, and salt gradually, then add to creamed mixture
Fill your Mirro Cooky press and form fancy designs on an ungreased cookie sheet (if you don’t have a cookie press, spoon cookie mixture instead on the cookie sheet)
Bake until cookies are a light golden brown; yields 6 dozen
Did your family ancestors make Christmas Cookies? Do you have a favorite Christmas cookie recipe? Then let me hear from you!
Claiming Kin Genealogy 
Liv, can you believe I still have my cookie press–exactly the same as the one in your picture above! And the recipe book, too! Good memories!
LikeLike
WOW! Hi Jacqi, thanks so much for chiming in and letting me know you are the proud owner of a vintage Mirro cooky press too! Don’t you just love it? We do and mom has certainly gotten her monies worth out of this little jewel. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
LikeLike
Liv, my mom had a vintage German cookie press also. She made her German Spritz cookies with it! I am hoping to have possession of it at the beginning of the year. I remember eating cookie and cake dough too! We have such wonderful memories of our mom’s baking. Thank you for the wonderful reminder and memory!
LikeLike
Hi Gini and thanks so much for sharing your fond memories about your mom’s vintage cookie press. I never thought this cooky press would be such a special treasure for me — but it is and I know the one coming your way soon will be for you too! Again thanks!
LikeLike