The World According to Me

Baking is one of my favorite parts of the holidays. Not only is it nice to have a selection of home made goodies for when you have guests, baking can be a great gift. When giving as a gift you can put your baking in a nice tin or box or you can assemble the dry ingredients in a jar and include the recipe so the recipient can bake it themselves. Here are two of my favorite holiday cookie recipes.

Traditional Shortbread

This is an old family recipe. I can remember all the women in the family getting together to make shortbread, which is one of my favorite holiday treats.

½ cup corn starch
½ cup icing sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup softened butter

Sift together corn starch, icing sugar, and flour. Beat butter with an electric mixer for about 10 minutes. Add the dry ingredients gradually and blend with spoon until soft, smooth dough forms. Shape into 1 inch balls. If dough is too soft to handle, chill for an hour. Place 1½ inches apart on un-greased cookie sheet and flatten with a fork. Bake at 300 for 15 – 20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

You can use a glass to flatten if you prefer the look of a flat cookie. You can also add candied fruit or nuts to the top of the cookie to add a little variety.

Ginger Sparklers

This recipe is always a big hit. I actually get requests! I’ve had this recipe for years and I got it from my best friends mom when we were still in school. I’m not sure of the original origin of the recipe.

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp cloves

1 cup brown sugar
¾ cup butter
¼ cup molasses
1 egg

Sugar to roll in

Mix dry ingredients together. Cream butter, sugar, molasses and egg thoroughly. Gradually add dry mix to the wet mix. Shape into 1 inch balls. Roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 8 -10 minutes. Makes about 5 dozen cookies