Favorite Christmas Cookies

I don’t even know what that title means. These things just pour out of me sometimes. What I want to do now is share with you my all-time favorite, nostalgic, comfort-food, fun-to-make, low-fuss, low-brow, high calorie, non-snobby, yummy Christmas cookie of all time. They come from my mom, Gee, who used this simple but flavorful sugar cookie dough to make cookies for any occasion: Christmas, Valentines, Easter, and, my personal favorite as a child, Secretary’s Day. Some of my greatest memories were celebrating Secretary’s Day with the family, munching on our favorite cookies cut into shapes of Rolodexes and staplers. Not really.

I love these cookies. The dough is delicious, of course—what cookie dough isn’t?— but what really sets these cookies apart is the slightly unconventional method of decoration. Instead of slathering them with frosting or sprinkles after baking, the cookies are painted with a colorful egg-yolk wash before baking, which gives the finished cookie a lovely glazed appearance. Then, simple white icing is piped to fill in the blanks and to give the cookies a little extra flair. Ha! I just said “flair.”

Interestingly, the egg yolk glaze serves an added purpose: it provides a nice, mild contrast to an otherwise sweet cookie. Each bite brings you soft, sweet sugar cookie, non-sweet egg yolk glaze, and sweet powdered sugar icing. And it’ll make you smile.

Makes 3 dozen

Ingredients:

• Cookies:
• ⅔ cups Shortening
• ¾ cups Sugar
• ½ teaspoons Grated Orange Or Lemon Zest
• ½ teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 whole Egg
• 4 teaspoons Milk
• 2 cups Flour
• 1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Salt

EGG YOLK GLAZE:

• 1 whole Egg Yolk
• 1 teaspoon Water
• 2 drops (to 3) Food Coloring

WHITE DECORATIVE ICING:

• 1 bag 2 lb Powdered Sugar
• ¼ cups Milk
• 2 Tablespoons Egg White (optional)

Preparation Instructions:

Cream shortening, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla thoroughly. Add in egg and beat until light and fluffy. Add in the milk and mix.

Sift dry ingredients together, then blend into cream mixture. Divide dough in half (thirds if you double your recipe), slightly flatten between two sheets of waxed paper, then refrigerate for one hour (or freeze for 20 minutes).

While dough is chilling, combine egg yolk, water and food coloring to make the egg yolk glaze.

Roll out dough on lightly floured surface and cut into shapes with a cookie cutters. Transfer shapes to lightly greased cookie sheet and paint cookies (with a soft brush) with egg yolk glaze.

After brushing with egg yolk glaze, bake at 375 degrees for approximately 6 minutes. Do not allow the cookies to brown.

While cookies are baking, mix powdered sugar, milk and egg whites (which are optional) to make the decorative icing. Remove cookies from oven to a wire rack to cool. Then, using a pastry bag or Ziploc bag, pipe with white icing to decorate.

Note: when making the white decorative icing, make sure that it is thick and somewhat retains its shape.

Recipe Source: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/my_favorite_christmas_cookies_from_childhood_and_beyond/