Making cookies for Santa Claus is a tradition in my family. And they have to be Sugar Cookies. Why? Because that is what Santa Claus has always liked to eat at our house.
[pinterest]
For as long as I can remember we would make Sugar Cookies with my Mom at Christmas. And we would use those old fashioned metal cookie cutters with either painted metal handles cut out or little painted wooden handles attached to them.
[pinterest]
The tools needed are simple: a good recipe, somewhere to roll them out and cut them and of course, colored sugar. We always used red and green colored sugar. Nothing fancy, just plain colored sugar. It was special sugar, you know? It was only sold around Christmas time. When I make my cookies now, I still only use red and green colored sugar. The rolling pin that I use was a wedding gift from my sister in law, Janice, along with the wooden board. They are almost antiques now themselves, like my little cookie cutters that I used to make my cookies this year.
[pinterest]
I have lots of cookie cutters that I usually use. I remember when we got married I only wanted some of the old metal ones like we had growing up. There were stars, bells, Christmas trees, angels, Santas, gingerbread men and reindeer, to name a few. So we collected them over the years. I added some plastic ones in different shapes and sizes, too. But my favorites are always the old antique metal ones. When I asked Keith what kind he wanted this year, he said how about just some round ones?
[pinterest]
Well, that would be easy enough. So I took out three round scalloped cutters in different sizes and started cutting out cookies. Oh, and this dough makes great shaped cookies. It does not spread when it bakes, so the shapes retain their crisp edges and lines. In fact, this recipe is my go to recipe and has been for over 30 years thanks to my sister’s junior high French class.
[pinterest]
When Becky was in junior high, she had to make a food to take to school and she was given this recipe for French Sugar Cookies (which I am sharing at the end of this so stay tuned) and since then, that has been our family recipe.
[pinterest]
It uses a lot of butter and there is a twist – it uses Almond flavoring to give the cookies a different taste. Which we all love. And, because it uses so much butter, the cookies have little flakey layers. And really, they don’t lose their shape when they bake.
[pinterest]
After they are cut out, I simply place them on the baking tray (I use ungreased Pampered Chef stoneware) and then they are heavily sprinkled with sugar. Lots of sugar, I mean they aren’t called a Sugar Cookie for nothing!
[pinterest]
And yes, we are allowed to mix the red and green and have blended cookies. And sometimes when I do my other shapes I will make certain parts one color and other parts other colors, like the center of a star one color and the points of the star another color. Nothing elaborate at all. Just hand sprinkling sugar goodness all over the cookies. And the tray…and sometimes the counter or floor. Sometimes those little granules of sugar pop up weeks after the holidays in the funniest places.
[pinterest]
And see? These cookies just came out of the oven and their shape is pretty darn crisp – just like when they went in the oven. They cool on the trays for about 10 minutes before going to a rack to cool for another 10 minutes or so.
[pinterest]
And it’s hard not to nibble when they are cooling on the rack. They are very good when they are warm. And this dough also does not get hard and crunchy. It makes a nice firm cookie with a good body. It’s not chewy or fall apart soft, just perfect in my book.
[pinterest]
And there you have it, a colorful plate of cookies for Santa. But really, these are for Keith. These are his favorites and as soon as he found out I was baking them, he kept coming into the kitchen and asking if they were ready. And he stole a few while they were cooling, too.
[pinterest]
And because they are firm they stack nicely. They would make cute last minute gifts stacked in cellophane or wax paper and tied with some bakers twine.
[pinterest]
Here you can kind of get a glimpse of the flakey layers these Sugar Cookies have. They have buttery goodness with an almond flavor that is our favorite.
[pinterest]
And again, these are not super hard to make, they are as plain or as fancy as you want them to be and they are just downright delicious. And I love making them every year. It brings back memories of the excitement of Christmas as a child and the fun it was to make these for Santa. Growing up, this was really the only time we made Sugar Cookies that I remember. Because they were a special treat for a special time of year.
[pinterest]
And Santa really liked them, too! As promised, here is the recipe. I hope you try them. And I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does. Merry Christmas!
[pinterest]
Click on the image above. It’s formatted to print in a 5 x 7 size – you can print out for a recipe card. Enjoy!
[pinterest]
Merry Christmas!
Leave a Reply