Cutout cookies of animal and Christmas shapes have been part of our Christmas celebration for at least four generations.
The Christmas cookies are the product of a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe that hasn’t found its way into many cookbooks or recipe collections. But here it is for you to create a new Christmas tradition for your family, which will love these cookies. The cookies are a great dunking snack.
Ingredients:
- Pinch of salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups light brown sugar
- 1 cup lard (Crisco)
- ½ pound butter
- 4 eggs
- 3 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 11 cups flour
- 5 tsp baking powder
Making mix 1: Cream together the salt, sugar, light brown sugar, lard and butter. Add the eggs.
Making mix 2: In a separate bowl or measuring cup, add baking soda to the buttermilk.
Making mix 3: In a third bowl, mix flour and baking powder.
Blending the mixes: Alternating, add some of mix 2 and some of mix 3 to mix 1. Mix together each time you add them.
After the three mixes have been entirely blended, let the result stand a few hours or overnight in a cool place or refrigerator.
Roll large handfuls of the blend on a floured board to no thinner than a quarter-inch and cut with cookie cutters.
The cutout, raw cookies can be decorated with colored sugar and like before baking, or left plain for royal icing.
Bake approximately 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
After cooling, the baked cookies can be iced with royal icing, which is made by mixing 2 egg white (pasteurized Egg Beaters), 3 cups of confectioners sugar and, if desired, 1 tsp of lemon or vanilla. (Add more or less egg and powdered sugar to get a toothpaste-like consistency.
