I have 3 generational family cookie recipes to share.
The shortbread cookies my great aunt would bake and add a maraschino cherry to the top before baking them. For the orange cookies, my grandmother wrote a note to my mom on the recipe stating that the recipe came from a neighbor that my mom would pick plums from her tree when growing up.
The mincemeat cookies recipe was handwritten with my grandmother’s name on it.
Old Fashioned Cookie Exchange
By Vickie Chynoweth
Shortbread cookies (Makes 5 dozen)
Ingredients
1 pound butter room temperature (salted or unsalted)
1 cup powdered sugar
4 1/2 cups cake flour (no substitution)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients until well blended. Form into walnut sized balls.
3. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Slightly flatten using fingers.
4. Bake 15 minutes or until slightly golden around edges.
5. Cool 5 minutes before moving to a cookie rack to cool. Optional – slice maraschino cherries in 1/2 and place one half in the middle of each cookie before baking.
Orange cookies (Makes 5 dozen)
Ingredients
1 cup butter flavored Crisco Shorting
2 cup sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 orange juiced and rind grated
1 orange rind grated & 1/2 cup sugar
Directions:
1. Cream together shorting, sugar and eggs. Add orange juice and grated rind, mix well.
2. Add flour, baking soda and salt, mix thoroughly.
3. Chill dough several hours or overnight.
4. In a small bowl, mix 1/2 cup sugar and grated rind. Mix with fingers separating orange rind.
5. Form into walnut sized balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. With bottom of glass dipped in orange sugar flatten each cookie with sugar coated glass bottom.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-10 minutes or until slightly browned, do not overcook.
7. Cool 5 minutes before moving to a cookie rack to cool.
Mincemeat oatmeal cookies (Makes 42 cookies)
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco Shorting
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cup mincemeat filling & topping
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups of old-fashioned oats
Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.
2. Cream together shorting, brown sugar and egg. Stir in mincemeat filling.
3. Add flour, baking soda and salt, mix thoroughly. Stir in old-fashioned oats.
4. Drop by teaspoon full on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
5. Bake 15 minutes or until slightly browned.
6. Cool 5 minutes before moving to a cookie rack to cool.
